In Odisha’s Sambalpur, a bike rally organised by ‘Hanuman Jayanti Samanyoy Samiti’ and Bajrang Dal came under violent stone pelting when it was passing near a masjid in the Dhanupali area, triggering clashes on Wednesday evening, April 12. A look at the FIR filed following the incident reveals how a Muslim mob attacked Hindus during the procession while shouting highly incendiary slogans.
As per the FIR filed by complainant Dhirendra Kumar Swain, who was stationed at Motijharan chowk on the fateful day along with Sub-Inspector Dharmendra Bhoi to maintain law and order during the Hanuman Jayanti procession.
In the procession, about 1000 motorcyclists holding religious flags proceeded towards Goplbazar via Bhutapada Motijharan, Sunapali, Dhankauda . The rally reached near Motijharan chowk at about 6 PM.
Half of the members of the procession crossed Motijharan chowk while the other half of the procession made a halt there for some time. While there, the procession was chanting slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ and that was when the procession came under attack from around 200 Islamists. They abused the members of the procession and threatened them to vacate the place immediately.
Soon, they started pelting stones at the procession. As per the FIR, the Islamists attacked the members of the rally with iron rods, lathis, and swords, with the intention to kill. During the attack, apart from shouting obscenities, Islamists were shouting ‘kafir log’, ‘sale logo ko kaat denge’, ‘salo ko India wapas nehi jaane denge’, as per the FIR.
15 attackers have been named in the FIR along with 150 to 160 other unidentified attackers.
Stone pelting on Hanuman Janmotsav procession in Odisha
In Odisha’s Sambalpur, a bike rally organised by ‘Hanuman Jayanti Samanyoy Samiti and Bajrang Dal came under violent stone pelting when it was passing near a masjid in the Dhanupali area, triggering clashes among two groups on Wednesday evening, April 12. As per reports, several police personnel, including the woman IIC of Dhanupali Police Station have been injured in the clashes.
Videos of the incident showed continuous stone pelting near a masjid and adjacent lane. The bikes and scooters used in the rally are seen lying scattered as the stone pelting disrupts the bike rally. Police personnel were seen making futile attempts to prevent the mob from attacking, while abusive words are heard.
As per reports in the Odia media, 10 police personnel, including the ASP of Sambalpur have been injured in the violent clashes. As per reports, 25 people have been detained so far after the violence. Additional police forces were soon deployed to disperse the mob.
