Five people, including three police personnel, were injured when a mob of about 500 activists of the National Development Front (NDF) and other Muslim outfits went on a rampage between Kumbazha and Pathanamthitta on Friday night, forcing the police to open fire at two places and impose prohibitory orders. A district office of the BJP and several vehicles were torched by the miscreants. Three policemen and two Sabarimala pilgrims who were injured in stone-throwing, were admitted to the general hospital in Pathanamthitta. The trouble arose reportedly from an altercation between two sections over removal of some wall posters put up by the NDF in connection with the state-wide hartal called on December 6, the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri masjid. Superintendent of police K Radhakrishnan Nair said on Saturday that the mob, armed with lethal weapons that set out from Kumbazha at about midnight on Friday, first targeted the BJP office near the town and set it on fire and destroyed several vehicles parked on the roadside. It then proceeded to Pathanamthitta town, pelted a police party with stones following which police fired a round in the air and dispersed the crowd through 'lathicharge'. The fleeing mob also allegedly ransacked some shops on the way. The violent protestors who regrouped after early morning prayers at the Juma Masjid in Pathanamthitta town, again attacked the police party, which once more resorted to baton charge to disperse them.
Tension prevailed in the area, following which district collector P S Enose imposed prohibitory orders in the Pathanamthitta Municipality and the Ovallur panchayat for five days under Police Act Section 21 and 23. Though no one gave a hartal call, shops and business establishments remained closed in the area. Private buses and taxis went off the roads, while the flow of hundreds of vehicles carrying pilgrims to the Sabarimala hill shrine remained unaffected.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the Sabarimala Trunk Road to prevent any untoward incident.
Bureau Report