PUNE, 19 September 2005 — A mob of more than 40,000 Hindu devotees of deity Ganesha suddenly turned violent on Saturday night during the immersion procession and indulged in heavy stone pelting and arson, damaging several shops, traffic signals and vehicles at the posh shopping zone on Laxmi Road and Tilak Road.
The mob set fire to a police jeep and another government van, two OB vans of television channels which were providing live coverage, and three senior police officers and 11 constables received injuries, and were rushed to the state government run Sassoon General Hospital for treatment.
The procession which started peacefully in the morning turned ugly after people in the procession protested against the ban imposed by the Supreme Court on the use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Trouble erupted at midnight when 100 activists of Shiv Shakti organization in the procession, ignoring the court ban order, started playing music on loudspeakers. The police then stepped in and warned the activists to stop the loudspeaker, which was protested. The police then seized the loudspeaker equipment, and this sparked the violence.
The police first issued warning to the unruly mob to desist from taking the law into their hands and maintain peace. Finding the situation turning out of control, the police then
summoned the Rapid Action Force which cane charged the huge mob, but this did not have the desired effect, and then the police fired teargas shell to bring the situation under control. The mob dispersed only to return after 6 a.m. this morning, as the loudspeaker ban is over by this time, and the profession re-started and is likely to end by midnight on Sunday.
The police said that they are duty bound to abide by the orders of the highest judiciary of the land and would not permit the people to take the law into their hands. The police had arrested some people and registered offenses at the Faraskhana and Vishrambaugh police stations, and were in the process of arresting more persons was continuing at the time of filing this report.
A senior police official speaking to “Arab News” said that the situation in the city was tense but described it as under control, and added that the police were keeping a sharp vigil on the extended procession and mischief makers.
However, politicians of all the parties, blamed the city police chief Dhananjay Jadhav and his team of 11 Deputy Commissioners, stating that they had failed miserably in handling a sensitive religious issue with tact and understanding, and that the situation could have been averted if the police chief and his men had observed some restraint and acted sensibly.
