AP: Curfew to be relaxed for 2 hrs in Bhainsa

Adilabad, Oct 14: With a view to restoring normalcy, police decided to relax curfew for two hours to enable people purchase essential commodities in the communally sensitive Bhainsa town, where communal clashes erupted during an immersion procession on October ten.

District Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anil Kumar told UNI here that while no fresh clashes were reported, normalcy had not been restored so far.

He said the curfew would be lifted for two hours from 1100 hrs to 1300 hrs to enable people purchase groceries and essential items.

In view of the curfew for the five successive days, people in Bhainsa town were living in a state of fear and not venturing out from their houses even to purchase essentials like milk, vegetables and medicines.

Though tension prevailed in the town, the situation in Nirmal and Asifabad towns was under control, he said, adding that the curfew, which was in force in Bhainsa, would be lifted in a phased manner, depending on the situation.

He said Rapid Action Force personnel (RAF) were positioned in sensitive areas to maintain law and order along with local police to prevent further clashes.

Stringent measures have been taken to prevent communal clashes from spreading to other areas in the district, the DSP said.

Three people were killed and 15 wounded when violence broke out at Bhainsa town in this district during an immersion ceremony.

Four policemen, including a Sub-Inspector, were also injured in the incident. Around 60 shops and ten vehicles were torched by rioting mobs during the clashes. No one had been arrested so far.

In another incident, six people, including three children, were burnt alive on Sunday at their residence in Vottoli. The state government had decided to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the incident.

UNI