Clashes took place between two communities over 72 hours following an incident of ‘teasing of girls’

Communal violence has been reported from Jamshedpur over the last 72 hours following an incident of “teasing of girls.” Members of the two communities attacked each other with sticks and pelted stones at each other in the north, west and eastern parts of Jameshedpur, famously known as Steel City.

Senior Superintendent of Police Anoop T. Mathew said that the situation was brought under control on Wednesday. In the afternoon, curfew was relaxed for four hours in Jamshedpur, other than four police station areas in Mango, Azadnagar, MGM and Alidih. (According to PTI, curfew was re-imposed in the city after a four-hour relaxation as tension continued to prevail in the affected areas of Mango.)

However, locals told The Hindu on phone that an incident was first reported on Friday in the Golamuri area, when following a protest to stop “anti-social activity,” a middle-aged person was lynched. The police, however, categorically refused to connect the incident with the communal flare-up that took place over the last two days.

“That (lynching) was a separate criminal act and had nothing to do with the ensuing violence,” Mr. Mathew said .

He attributed the sporadic violence of the last 72 hours in localities like Maango, Azadpur or MGM to “teasing of girls in the area” by local youth. Following the incident, right-wing groups called for bandh.

“Eventually curfew was imposed. Police and CRPF conducted flag marches and the situation was brought under control,” Mr. Mathew said. However, till Wednesday no one had come forward to register any complaint of eve-teasing.

Additional Director General of Police S.N. Pradhan said that sufficient companies of district police and paramilitary personnel were deployed and the incidents were being investigated.

“The process to identify the culprits has started, justice will be meted out,” he said. Several incidents of communal flare-ups have been reported from the same areas of Jamshedpur over the last 50 years.