MP: Over 100 booked after stones pelted amid dispute over Shivratri pooja

In two separate incidents reported in the Khargone drict in Madhya Pradesh, 100 people were booked for rioting and voluntarily causing hurt, police said. Police said that at least 15 people were injured in two separate incidents in clashes reported in two different villages of Khargone after women from the scheduled caste (SC) community were stopped from offering pooja at Shiva temple on the occasion of Maha Shivratri here on Saturday. In the first incident reported in Chhapra village of Sanawad tehsil, a group of women belonging to the SC were allegedly stopped and misbehaved with the Gurjar community. Amid this, people from both communities pelted stones at each other and 15 were injured. Also Read: Four arrested in Odisha for assaulting tribal girl over theft allegationsAfter reaching the spot, police took control of the situation and booked Bhaiyalal Patel, leader of the Gurjar community and others for rioting and voluntarily causing hurt under relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Meanwhile, a cross first information report (FIR) was regered against SC leader Premlal Sukhdev. Superintendent of police (SP), Khargone, Dharam Veer Yadav said, “It was a local issue. Five days ago, SC and Gurjar community people fought after the former cut a banyan tree near a temple. The Gurjar community had filed a complaint against the member of the SC community. On Saturday, both the group clashed on the same issue again.” In another incident, a woman from the Balai community (scheduled caste) was allegedly stopped from entering the temple in Choti Kasarwad the women of the Rajput community.According to the SC woman identified as one Manju Parmar, four women also allegedly beat her up in the temple for trying to perform pooja with upper-caste women. Later, Kasarwad police filed an FIR against the four women on the complaint from Parmar.On Sunday, Balai community national president Manoj Parmar performed a special pooja at the temple with the women from his community, police said. SP Yadav said, “There was no caste tension in Kasarwad. Women fought over some issues and later, police reached the spot and allowed them to perform a pooja.” Meanwhile, another incident was reported in the Belwadi village of Khandwa where members of the SC community were allegedly stopped a priest from entering the temple. However, no written complaint was filed at the police station regarding the matter. Also Read: APPSC paper leak: Protests turn violent in Itanagar, internet suspended“Kotwar Hukumchand’s son Sumesh reached the temple to perform Jalabhishek of Lord Shiva, but the priest Jagram Panwar stopped him from entering the temple. The priest asked him to worship from outside. Sumesh returned after worshipping from outside,” said Prashant Pachole, a member of the SC community.Later, people from the SC community gathered and reached the temple and performed pooja in front of the police. Harsud town inspector Antim Panwar said, “They worshipped under police protection. No FIR was regered in the matter.”