Five people from two different communities were injured near Viruthampattu in Vellore after clashes broke out in the area on Monday night. The fight erupted during Ramzan celebrations and the police have arrested nine people from one community and five from another community, reports The New Indian Express.
According to the report, the fight was fuelled by a 22-year-old youth named Yuvaraja, who damaged tubelights erected as part of Ramzan celebrations on Zaheer Street on Sunday. Following this, members of another community beat him up. Tensions rose and youth from both groups were allegedly gearing up to confront each other.
The next day, J Masthan of Senur village was allegedly assaulted by three relatives of Yuvaraja, who are from the same village. A group of people then damaged more lights meant for Ramzan celebration and thrashed members of the other community. The other group then retaliated by damaging cars and water tankers. House were pelted with stones and even an idol place in a temple in the area was slightly damaged. Following this, police were forced to intervene. 50 policemen were deployed in the area throughout the night.
These series of clashes serve as a dark mark on the state, which largely saw peaceful Ramzan celebrations. Lakhs of Muslims participated in Ramzan special prayers across Tamil Nadu on Monday.
In fact the community's leaders appealed to the youth to not get distracted by attempts being made to 'drive a wedge between different communities'. Instead, they were told to concentrate more on their education and contribution to the well-being of society.
Extended fights over isolated incidents is not new to this district. In March last year, two groups of youth belonging to Muslim and Hindu (Arunthathiyar) community clashed at Bagayam in Vellore.
It reportedly started when Muslim and Arunthathiyar men picked up a quarrel over a trivial issue while bathing in a nearby pond. On seeing this, a member of Aruthathiyar Community intervened to stop them fighting.The Muslims assaulted Gopi, his brother and a few others and fled.
Muslim youth, in a bid to divert the issue, threw stones into the mosque in the vicinity and claimed their rivals had hurled the stones. On hearing about the incident, a large number of Muslims gathered at the spot sparking tension.