Curfew relaxed in Muzaffarnagar, clashes in neighbouring Baghpat

With normalcy returning to riot-hit areas of the district, curfew was relaxed for seven hours in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar on Thursday.

"The administration has decided to relax curfew in three police station areas between 10 am to 5 pm," District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

Though the shops opened, all schools and colleges would remained closed till September 15. Strict vigil was being maintained during the relaxation period and police and paramilitary forces are on high alert. The administration had imposed curfew in Kotwali, Civil Lines and Nai Mandi areas of the district on Saturday last following communal clashes.

The curfew was relaxed for five hours on Wednesday in Muzaffarnagar while Baghpat witnessed a communal clash leaving a constable injured.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Arun Kumar had said on Wednesday that two bodies were recovered from the Ganga canal taking the death toll in the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar to 38, 67 people were injured in the violence and 408 persons arrested, he had said, adding, 12 bodies were awaiting post-mortem and police was trying to ascertain whether the deaths were linked to the communal violence.

 Kumar had said two of the suspects in the violence, Vikram Saini and Mukarram, have been detained under the stringent National Security Act.

 Besides this, two deaths have been reported from Meerut, one each have been reported from Hapur, Baghpat, Saharapur and Shamli, raising the total number of dead to 44.

 A gun, 41 cartridges of AK-47 and 17 other cartridges were seized during house-to-house searches in a village in Baghpat on Wednesday, police said.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had alleged that some political parties were trying to take advantage of the situation in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas and stirring up trouble.

Image: A man rides a motorcycle on a deserted street in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh

Photograph: Reuters