Peace returns to violence-hit Jodhpur, but tension prevails

Jodhpur: Normalcy is back in the city’s Soorsagar area after Friday night’s violence and the arrests made on Saturday, but palpable tension prevails in the area. Soorsagar and several nearby areas affected by violence were under strict vigil by police forces on Monday.
The city police said it undertook a drone survey of houses in the affected areas and found piles of stones on the roofs of some houses.
“After these discoveries, we immediately sent the STF team to the roofs of these houses and recovered more than two trolleys of stones. Now, we are preparing to take strict action against the owners of these houses,” said a police official.
Police suspect the stones accumulated on the roofs were part of a conspiracy to disrupt peace in the city afresh. The names and addresses of such house owners have been noted down, and they will be called for questioning by police, said an official.
A violent confrontation involving arson and stone pelting erupted between locals of two communities at Soorsagar on Friday night over efforts to open two gates in a wall of an eidgah despite a 15-year-old agreement not to do so.
A shop and a tractor were gutted, and nearly 20 people, including two policemen, were injured in the stone pelting. An old woman lost her eye after being hit by a stone as she tried to protect her grandson outside her house.
Efforts being made on social media to disrupt communal harmony in Jodhpur also came on police radar. After the stone-pelting incident, misleading claims flooded social media, many of them terming the violence as a “dharm yuddh”. Some accounts on X were seen posting videos with misleading captions making various claims.
“All such social media accounts are being checked. We are continuously monitoring such troublemakers. Anyone found attempting to incite riots is being apprehended,” said DCP (west) Rajesh Kumar Yadav.
Meanwhile, police, with the help of the local administration, have covered the gates at the eidgah and issued a warning against disturbing the status quo.
A delegation of ‘Sarva Samaj’ met the police commissioner and the district collector, demanding strict action against the perpetrators of violence.
“We demand asction under National Security Act against those who have stored stones and other objectionable items in their houses. If action is not taken in a week, we will start a protest,” said a member of the delegation.