Late on Thursday night, a dispute between two groups at the Dehradun railway station turned into a public altercation that resulted in the arrest of over 100 people.
Authorities were involved after they discovered a 16-year-old girl and an accused interfaith couple from Uttar Pradesh fighting at the station.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajai Singh stated that the girl, who belonged to a minority community, had travelled from Badaun to see the man who was living in Dehradun at the time. When the couple began to argue, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) stepped in and escorted them to the RPF police station for protection. The girl’s relatives, not knowing that she had gone to Dehradun, had lodged a missing person’s report in Badaun the previous day.
The girl’s relatives departed for Dehradun as soon as the UP police told them of the situation. Meanwhile, there were rumors of a communal incident that spread, resulting in the creation of two groups at the railway station: Asif Qureshi, ‘president of the Azad Samaj Party’s Dehradun city section, and Vikas Verma.
After vehement disagreements between the two groups, things swiftly got out of hand and they started throwing stones at one another. As eight two-wheelers and a police vehicle were damaged by miscreants, passengers and spectators at the station scurried for safety.
After using force to scatter the throng, police were able to put the situation under control by sending in more officers.
According to SSP Singh, a case was filed under sections 191(2) (rioting), 221 (obstructing a public servant from discharging his duties), 223 (disobedience of order passed by public servant), 324(4) (damaging property), and Section 7 of the criminal law (amendment) Act against 14 identified accused, including Vikas Verma and Asif Qureshi, and approximately 100 unidentified, 50 from each of the two sides.
“Rohit Maurya, Siddhant Badoni, Aman Swedia, Anil, Sunny, Rajesh, Shoaib, Nawab Qureshi, Itad Khan, Aqib, Taufiq Khan, and Arsh were the other named accused,” Singh continued.
Police are looking through CCTV footage to find other suspects.