Night curfew to continue in Rajsthan's Hinduan town

Night curfew will continue in Rajasthan's Hindaun town where a mob had yesterday set ablaze the houses of a sitting legislator and a former MLA, both Dalits, officials said today.

Earlier in the day, curfew was relaxed for five hours -- from 1 pm to 6 pm -- after the Karauli district administration reviewed the law and order situation in the district.

According to the officials, however, it was decided that night curfew from 6 pm till 8 am will continue and mobile internet services will remain suspended in Hindaun town till tomorrow afternoon.

"Situation is under control and no untoward incident has been reported so far. Curfew will be effective from 6 pm to 8 am on Thursday. Further decision will be taken after reviewing the law and order situation," Karauli District Collector Abhimanyu Kumar said.

Superintendent of Police Anil Kayal said 82 people have been arrested so far and six cases were registered against anti-social elements in the last three days.

The curfew was clamped yesterday afternoon after nearly 5,000 people set ablaze houses of sitting MLA Rajkumari Jatav and former MLA Bharosilal Jatav in Hindaun.

While Rajkumari Jatav is from the ruling BJP, Bharosilal Jatav is a former Congress legislator who also served as a minister in the state.

The incident occurred a day after Rajasthan and several other states saw large-scale protests and violence during a bandh called by Dalit organisations.

The bandh was called against the Supreme Court's March 20 order banning automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Ruling that no arrest can be made under the Act without prior permission, the apex court had also held that a court can grant anticipatory bail if it, prima facie, finds the complaint is an abuse of the law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail or harass a person.

Monday's 'Bharat Bandh' was called by various Dalit groups and backed by political outfits to demand restoration of the Act to its original form.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)