Jharkhand: Stones pelted on bus carrying volunteers of Bajrang Dal and VHP in Hazaribagh

In yet another incident of attack on volunteers of Bajrang Dal, which refreshed the horrifying memories of Nuh violence, a bus full of members of the Bajrang Dal and Jagran Dal was attacked by an enraged mob in Jharkhand on October 8.

The incident occurred around 8.30 in the evening near a mosque in the Pelawal region, around 30 kilometres from Hazaribagh.

According to the reports, the incident unfolded when the volunteers were returning from the Shaurya Jagran Yatra organised by Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi. It’s been reported that the bus full of volunteers, including women, was attacked when crossing from a Muslim-dominated area.

According to the eyewitness, Islamists attacked the bus and started pelting stones, damaging window glasses and the front glass of the bus. It’s been learnt that as many as ten people, including women, sustained serious injuries in the attack. In a video pertaining to the incident put up by the Sudarshan news, the bus carrying the volunteers can be seen in a devastating state where stones pelted on the bus can also be seen lying on the floor vividly.

Interacting with the media, an elderly lady who has sustained serious injuries in the head during the attack said that “we all were returning to our places and were raising slogans of Jay Shri Ram throughout the journey, though when we are crossing the area where the incident occured a Muslim man after listening to the slogan charged towards the bus with others.” “They commenced heavy stone pelting on the bus in which I got injured, everyone was hiding underneath the seats while they destroyed the whole bus, ” she added.

It’s been reported that the police arrived at the spot quickly after the bus was attacked and thwarted any untoward incident further, following which the volunteers were then routed to Katkamsandi in police protection. At the same time, the injured were rushed for treatment. It’s been learnt that the driver of the bus, Manoj Yadav and his associate, Toppo Yadav, have also sustained injuries in the attack.

Meanwhile, taking to Twitter, Former Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President Babulal Marandi, while slamming the Soren-led State Government for appeasement politics, said that the attack on the functionaries of VHP and Bajrang Dal is highly condemnable. Miscreants of a special community have got a license of hooliganism. The Jharkhand police must arrest the perpetrators and establish the rule of law.

Attacks on Hindu procession and Yatras

It is pertinent to mention here that similar attacks on the processions and Yatras of the Hindu community have also been carried out at separate places across the country in recent times suggesting a well planned pattern behind it.

Earlier, in a similar incident that took the nation by storm, an enraged mob of Islamists attacked a VHP’s Shobha Yatra in Nuh of Mewat region, killing as many as six persons alongside setting ablaze vehicles and vandalising public and private property in July this year.

The incident sparked a huge outrage among the public in general, following which the Khattar-led Government bulldozed around 250 properties belonging to the accused alongside registering 44 FIRs implicating at least 600 individuals.

Earlier incidents of stone pelting on Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanthi, and other Hindu religious processions were also reported from Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat, leading to deadly clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in a few places.

Similar clashes were also reported during the Ram Navami procession in Jamshedpur and Hazaribagh of Jharkhand this year, leaving as many as five people injured in Haldipokhar.

Earlier, a law and order situation also arose in the Panki Bazaar area of Palamu district after members of the Muslim community objected to a makeshift gate (Torandwar) being erected during Mahashivratri, leading to the clashes between the two groups.