Kanwariyas run amok, vandalise police van in UP

As the kanwariya yatra began winding up on Thursday, a video surfaced showing a group of people, some of them apparently pilgrims, smashing a police vehicle in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday, police said on Thursday. Bareilly (Rural) SP Satish Kumar said an FIR has been registered.

A video of the incident shows around 50-60 kanwarias smashing windows of the police vehicle in the Bugrasi Narsena police station area of Bulandshahr. A police officer is seen trying to control the crowd. Kumar said a crowd had assembled on the Kanwariya route following an incident of eve-teasing that led to a quarrel between two families. A police van which reached the spot bore the brunt of the anger, he said.

“There was a clash between a person identified as Pappu, who lives in the locality at his maternal uncle’s place, and another group over personal enmity. In the clash, he called his kanwariya friends to help him out. As soon as a police team reached the spot, they all attacked the vehicle as well the policemen,” said Bugrasi Narsena SHO Anil Kumar.

Every year, thousands of devotees of Lord Shiva take up the kanwar pilgrimage, walking from their homes in various States to Haridwar and Gangotri to fetch pots filled with water from the river Ganga. The water is then offered at their local Shiva shrines on Maha Shivaratri. Over the last few days, travellers have complained of huge traffic disruptions by the Kanwariyas, who are seen walking in large groups or riding two-wheelers and trucks, ignoring traffic rules and sometimes wielding hockey sticks.

On Tuesday, a video had surfaced showing a group of kanwariyas vandalising a car in Delhi after the vehicle had accidentally brushed past a kanwariya.