Tripura: Mosque Vandalized, Shops Gutted In Fire During VHP Rally

There seems to be no end to communal violence in the country. On Tuesday, a mosque was vandalized and few shops were burnt down in Tripura's Panisagar sub-division during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally against the vandalisation of Dugra Puja pandals in Bangladesh.

As per reports, there were around 3,500 people in the rally.

"A section of VHP activists at the rally ransacked a mosque in the Chamtilla area. Later, three houses and three shops were ransacked and two shops set on fire in the Rowa Bazar area, around 800 yards away from the first incident," Panisagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Soubhik Dey told Indian Express.

Police said the ransacked houses and gutted shops belonged to members of the minority community. A case has also been registered.

Meanwhile, heavy security has been deployed in all the affected areas to avoid further escalation.

"The VHP had organised a protest rally at Panisagar area today. We gathered at Panisagar motorstand and were scheduled to walk through different areas, including Chamtilla, Rowa, Jalebasha, etc., and return to the point of start. After we came near Rowa, we found some youths standing in front of a mosque hurling abuses at us. They were armed with dao and other weapons. They chanted Pakistan Zindabad and religious slogans. Some sporadic incidents occurred owing to their provocation," a Bajrang Dal leader, who was part of the rally, said.

He also alleged that a section of the administration wanted the situation to go out of control and deliberately didn't deploy sufficient security personnel for the rally.