15 Arrested After Durga Temple Vandalised In Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur

A Durga temple was vandalised in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district Thursday night leading to violent protests, including stone-throwing, as members of two religious communities faced-off.

The violence began after a young man broke a grill at the temple in Sihora's Azad Chowk as a puja was being performed. That was followed by members of one community throwing stones and tension escalated, prompting dozens of rioters to fill the streets armed with sticks.

The young man who vandalised the temple was allegedly assaulted.

Local police, led by senior officers, including district police chiefs and government officials, deployed swiftly and managed to re-establish the peace. Tear gas shells were fired.

Sources told NDTV a loudspeaker is the reason for this episode of violence; one religious community had objected to its being played to signal namaz during the puja.

Azad Chowk, where this happened, has a mosque run by the Madina Masjid Ahle Sunnat sitting directly opposite the temple, making conflict between the two groups always likely.

And with the start of the holy month of Ramadan the situation became even more tense.

The police have, so far, identified over two dozen rioters, of whom 15 have been detained.

In addition, the cops are also expected to seize the rioters' vehicles.

A similar incident took place in Karnataka's Bagalkote, where a Shivaji Jayanti procession was interrupted after stones were thrown; some of these hit police personnel, reports said.

This happened Thursday evening, around 3.30 pm, as the rally was passing through the older part of the city, and near a mosque, officials said. Superintendent of Police Siddharth Goyal said extra security was provided for the Shivaji procession that then continued without incident.

Goyal said CCTV footage from the area where the stones were thrown would be reviewed to identify the guilty, and stressed that action will be taken against them.

A third incident was reported from Hyderabad.

Two groups were involved in a clash and minor ruckus near the Jama Masjid in the city's Amberpet neighbourhood, forcing police to deploy to disperse the crowd.

The cops have said the matter is under review.