A clash broke out between two communities outside a gurudwara here following which over 80 identified and hundreds of unidentified people were booked for rioting and damaging public property, the police said on Sunday.
Additional SP (rural) Subhash Chandra Shakya said tension erupted on Saturday when a watchman objected to putting up a cart to sell “rakhis” by a 14-year-old girl outside the gurudwara in the Banda area of the district. The watchman also allegedly hit the girl with a stick, the police said.
As the news spread, Hindus and Sikhs reached the spot and indulged in stone pelting. Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur, S. Chinappa said, “Three FIRs have been registered [on complaints by the girl’s father, a resident of Banda and the police] against more than 80 people from both sides and hundreds of others under various sections of the IPC for rioting and damaging public property.”
He said heavy police deployment has been made in the area to maintain law and order.
A meeting of the two sides was called by District Magistrate Amrit Tripathi to help law enforcement agencies establish peace, he said.