Over 200 held for Vadodara riots, Situation Remains Tense

Over 200 people have been arrested in Vadodara town in Gujarat after days of communal clashes on Tuesday.

Though there has been no fresh incident reported, the situation in the city remained tense amid huge deployment of police personnel. Vadodara police chief E Radhakrishnan said, “The situation is under control and peaceful.” He said that 13 companies of state reserve police force and rapid action force were deployed in sensitive areas.
According to reports, the violence has begun after an image was posted on social networking site Facebook that hurt religious sentiments on September 25. The violence has been erupted in cities including Yakutpura, Panjrapole, Fatehpura and Kumbharvada.
Reports say that Joint Commissioner of Police, D J Patel of Vadodara, said, “We have arrested more than 200 people from the city. Some of the arrests are a preventive measure.” He said that the mobile, internet services remained suspended to check the spread of rumours.
Apart from the city police and 13 companies of the State Reserve Police (SRP), a company each of BSF, CRPF and RAF have been deployed. A company comprises about 80 to 90 personnel.
While six senior IPS officers, who had earlier served in Vadodara, have been stationed in the city, top police and government officials are also closely monitoring the situation.
Last week, Police had reportedly fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob on Thursday and opened fire in air on two occasions.
Senior ministers Nitin Patel and Rajni Patel had visited Vadodara and asked the administration to bring the situation under control.