Security has been intensified in North Tripura, with police providing protection to all mosques in the district, a senior police official said on Wednesday, October 27. This comes after a mosque was vandalised during the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally in the Panisagar sub-division of the district on Tuesday, October 26.
According to Director General of Police VS Yadav, there were a few stray incidents of violence, but the situation is peaceful in the North Tripura district. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 (prohibition of gathering of four or more people) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was promulgated in Panisagar and neighbouring Dharmanagar subdivisions following the incident at Chamtilla area in the district. “All the mosques across the state are under security cover now. We are keeping a vigil on the situation," Yadav said.
On Tuesday evening, a mosque was vandalised and two shops were set ablaze at Chamtilla during a VHP rally taken out to protest against recent violence against Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, a mob had damaged 66 houses and set ablaze about 20 houses of Hindus on Sunday, October 24, at a village in Rangpur district’s Pirganj upazila. This was purportedly after an alleged social media post amid protests by the Hindus against incidents of temples being vandalised during the Durga Puja celebrations.
Following this, during the VHP rally in Tripura, three houses and a few shops, reportedly owned by members of the minority community in India, were also ransacked in nearby Rowa Bazar, North Tripura Superintendent of police Bhanupada Chakraborty had said. A group of people threw stones and damaged a door of a mosque in the Chamtilla area during the rally.
Security forces rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, the SP said. A complaint was lodged in this connection, another police officer said.
“The situation in North Tripura district is now peaceful. We have beefed up security and police protection for all mosques in the district. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CRPc was promulgated at Panisagar and Dharmanagar subdivisions for an indefinite period,” Chakraborty told PTI.
DGP Yadav said some miscreants had tried to disrupt communal harmony in the state a few days ago by attacking religious places but they could not succeed due to security deployment. “They intended to malign the image of the government, but the police always remained active,” Yadav told reporters.
Tripura State Jamiat Ulama, a branch of all-India organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that seeks to protect Islamic beliefs, identity, heritage and places of worship, confirmed that police protection has been given to all mosques of North Tripura. "The government is working to maintain peace in the state,” Tripura State Jamiat Ulama president Mufti Tayebur Rahman said.
Assistant Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Subrata Chakraborty said, “All the district heads of police were asked to provide security to mosques and organise regular patrolling in vulnerable areas.”
The opposition CPI(M) condemned the incident. “A group of miscreants were active to disrupt communal harmony in the state,” the Left party said and appealed to all sections of the people to maintain peace. In a statement, the CPI(M) also demanded adequate compensation to the shop owners.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said he is not aware of the incident but appropriate actions should be initiated by the police if anything like this had happened.