Riot police deployed and mobile internet services cut in parts of Bihar state after one person is shot dead in Bihar Sharif town
\n Hyderabad
\nAuthorities have deployed hundreds of riot police and cut mobile internet services in parts of eastern India after violence erupted in several states during a Hindu religious festival.
\nPolice said at least one person, a minor according to local media reports, was shot dead in the town of Bihar Sharif in Bihar state\u2019s Nalanda district on Saturday as Hindus took out a procession to mark Ram Navami.
\nThis came a day after mobs set fire to homes and shops during at times frenzied public celebrations of the festival in the town.
\nLocal reports said a prominent Muslim school was torched in Bihar Sharif during the festival.
\nRam Navami festival in several parts of India usually sees large processions by people brandishing swords, sticks, tridents and even guns.
\nIn recent years, the rallies have provocatively marched through Muslim neighbourhoods with religious \u2013 and often hate-filled music \u2013 pulsating through powerful sound systems.
\nNalanda police chief Shibli Nomani said nearly 100 people have been arrested over violence that erupted on Thursday when thousands of Hindus rallied on the streets and paraded through Muslim-dominated areas.
\n\u201cThe situation is under control. We are patrolling the area and ensuring no gatherings are allowed,\u201d he told AFP news agency, adding that the unrest was being investigated.
\nSimilar communal flare-ups were reported in two other cities in Bihar, where authorities shut mobile internet services in some areas and clamped down on public movement.
\nIn Rohtas, another district hit by violence where police arrested dozens, six people were injured in an explosion inside a house where two men were allegedly making a bomb.
\nBihar police tweeted that at first glance it did not appear that the blast was related to the recent unrest. Homemade explosives are sometimes used in mining in the area.
\nViolence also hit at least seven other Indian states in recent days following the Hindu festival, with dozens injured and hundreds arrested in at least 13 towns and cities.
\nThis included Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal, where mobs rampaged and torched vehicles and shops in Howrah district on Thursday.
\nWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said violence in her state began after a procession diverted from its route to an unauthorised area in the district\u2019s Shibpur area.
\nA senior police official said stones were hurled at the procession as it passed through the area.
\nBanerjee said there were lapses on the part of the police and strong action would be taken in the matter.
\nBanerjee also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the violence. The BJP accused her of targeting Hindus.
\nSimilar violence was reported in Modi\u2019s home state of Gujarat on Thursday in western India where clashes were reported in Vadodara and in Aurangabad in the neighbouring Maharashtra state.
\nCritics say hardline Hindu groups have been emboldened since Modi, who was Gujarat\u2019s chief minister during the infamous 2002 riots, was elected prime minister in 2014.
\nLast year, similar incidents were reported across several cities on Ram Navami, including in national capital New Delhi and in the eastern state of Jharkhand where one person was killed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Riot police deployed and mobile internet services cut in parts of Bihar state after one person is shot dead in Bihar Sharif town Hyderabad Authorities have deployed hundreds of riot police and cut mobile internet services in parts of eastern India after violence erupted in several states during a Hindu religious festival. Police said at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-323613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n