LUCKNOW, 16 October 2005 — As violence flared for the second consecutive day, shoot at sight orders were issued yesterday in Mau town of Uttar Pradesh as at least one person was killed and 22 were injured, including six critically.
Violence broke out in the communally sensitive town near Varanasi as mobs attacked a school, set ablaze a state roadways bus and some private property a day after two people died of bullet wounds. Curfew was clamped in the town after sectarian clashes Friday during the concluding celebrations of the Hindu festival of Dussehra. Top state officials from Lucknow visited the town yesterday to personally assess the situation.
Six people with serious injuries have been taken to the medical college at Varanasi.
The shoot at sight orders were issued even as state police chief Yashpal Singh and Principal Home Secretary Alok Sinha went by helicopter to take stock of the situation.
The alleged involvement of a mafia don-turned-leader of the ruling Samajwadi Party in the violence is not being ruled out.
Samajwadi Party legislator Mukhtar Ansari, who hails from Mau, blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party for the riots.
Mau District Magistrate Hira Mani Singh Yadav confirmed three deaths and claimed “the situation was now under control”.
