Haldwani riots: Shoot-on-sight orders given in northern Indian town to quell violence

More than 250 Muslim religious properties have been demolished in Uttarakhand in recent months

The aftermath of protests in Haldwani district, India. Reuters

Indefinite curfew and shoot-on-sight orders were issued on Friday after at least four people were killed and more than 250 injured when riots broke out over the demolition of an Islamic seminary and a mosque in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand.

Violence erupted in Banbhoolpura in Haldwani district late on Thursday when municipal authorities and hundreds of armed police arrived to demolish the structures, which were said to be encroaching on government land, according to the district administration.

Bulldozers razing the seminary built on an “underground mosque-like structure” faced stiff resistance from local Muslim men and women.

The protesters broke barricades and hurled stones at police and municipal workers after police used batons to disperse them.

After police managed to disperse the first stone-throwing mob, a second group arrived with petrol bombs and attacked the municipal officials and police, District Magistrate Vandana Singh said.

"Efforts were made [by the mob] to terrorise the area," Ms Singh said. "Our priority was to protect the police station and then ensure that no loss of life or property occurred in Gandhi Nagar."

The seminary and the mosque were declared illegal by the administration, Ms Singh said.

The demolition was being carried out after a court order and notices were issued to all parties involved.

“This was not an isolated activity to target anyone. Demolition has been happening to remove encroachment on government land.”

She explained that two structures, a seminary and an underground mosque-like construction that was said to be used for prayers, were not registered as religious properties.

Violence erupted in Banbhoolpura late on Thursday when municipal authorities and armed police in their hundreds arrived to demolish an Islamic seminary. Reuters

Senior police officer AP Anshuman said that four people were killed and more than 250 people, including 100 policemen, were injured in the clashes.

Schools have been shut and heavy security deployed in the area to maintain law and order.

The clashes were reported a day after the government, led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, introduced a law that would replace religious customs and enforce common majoritarian laws on minorities, particularly Muslims.

Hindu-majority India has witnessed a rise in anti-Muslim sentiments in recent months, including several demolitions of Muslim shrines and an exodus of the community over allegations of “Land Jihad” – a conspiracy theory popular among Hindus in which they claim that Muslims buy immovable properties to increase their domination.

More than 250 Muslim religious properties in the state, including mausoleums, have been demolished in recent months by the administration over claims that they were illegal while dozens of them have been separately demolished by Hindu radicals.

As many as 4,500 Muslim families were asked to leave Haldwani last year by a court that found they were living in illegal structures built on railway land.

Posters had also surfaced threatening Muslim traders to vacate their shops in the state’s Uttarkashi district last year after a case in which a minor girl was abducted by two men, one of whom was Muslim.

The demolition of the seminary is the latest in a series of demolitions of Muslim mosques and shrines in the country for allegedly being illegal structures.

Authorities in the Indian capital Delhi last month razed a 12th-century mosque and adjoining seminary without prior notice.