Ahmednagar clashes: ‘We no longer feel safe in our own houses… in our own neighbourhoods’

Shevgaon, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, has deserted its streets. Shops are closed as a result of a bandh organised by traders, despite considerable police presence. Local residents have been rattled by communal conflicts that erupted in the neighbourhood less than 48 hours ago.

Residents claimed residents from both populations involved in the conflicts had lived quietly in the same area for years, but Sunday night’s disturbances had made them feel unsafe. “If this isn’t polarisation, what is?” a resident wondered on Tuesday, adding that a stone thrown by the mob cracked their kitchen window panes. At the moment, his wife was inside.

Clashes were reported near a mosque between groups belonging to two communities during a procession taken out in Shevgaon on Sunday night to mark the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. The Ahmednagar district police, who had earlier said four police and one Home Guard personnel were injured, revised the figures on Tuesday to seven, saying three policemen and four Home Guard personnel were injured. The police had earlier said that only one civilian was injured but on Tuesday, two officials.

In addition to the two FIRs registered on Monday morning — one on stone-pelting on police, Home Guard and civilians and another on an attack on a man identified as Navnath Patkal by a sharp weapon — the police filed a third FIR in the early hours of Tuesday in connection with arson and vandalism, in which an eatery and an automobile repair garage were set afire and several vehicles and shops were damaged. “My staff was about to close the shop when I got a call that stones were being pelted on the glass facade. I chose to stay where I was and decided not to go to the shop, fearing the worst,” said a cloth trader.

The police said that when the procession reached the Shivaji Chowk area of the town sometime after 8.30 pm, sloganeering in front of a mosque led to arguments between two groups which escalated to stone-pelting from both sides followed by arson and vandalism. Some suspects also wielded sharp weapons, the probe has revealed. Several of the injured were attacked with sharp weapons, officials said.

“In the three FIRs registered till now we have booked 250 to 300 people, out of whom we have identified 112 people based on the security camera footage from various places. The process to identify and arrest more suspects is currently on. Those identified in the case of stone-pelting belong to both communities. We have arrested 30 people and issued notices to two minors. We have reasons to believe that several of those who have been identified or are yet to be identified are minors,” said an officer from Ahmednagar police.

Officials suspect that some of the injured had not approached the police, possibly fearing questioning or legal action if their involvement in clashes is revealed. None of the residents that The Indian Express spoke to, from both communities in the locality, wished to be identified.