The home minister was responding to demand by BJP MLA Babu Singh who raised the Samrau issue on the third day of the budget session of assembly.
Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria on Wednesday put a question mark on the police force by saying that the police were reduced to a muted spectator as two communities clashed in Samrau village in Jodhpur district. He further said that political leaders had delivered inflammatory speeches that had led to a volatile situation in the area.
The home minister was responding to demand by BJP MLA Babu Singh who raised the Samrau issue on the third day of the budget session of assembly. Babu Singh demanded arrest of those who had burnt and looted homes while police watched. Babu Singh alleged that political leaders gave communally provocative speeches and incited violence. He said the protesters had even burnt the record of the court room.
In reply, Kataria said that what has been said by Babu Singh is largely correct and the police didn’t react as the protesters of a particular community wrecked mayhem on the families of those who had shot a person of another community.
He said the way the incident took place in police presence is a cause of sorrow. The home minister said arrest of the accused is top on his priority.
The incident had taken place in Samrau village under the Lohavat police station some 117km from Jodhpur in January.
One Hanuman Ram Jat, who according to the police, a history-sheeter involved in illegal liquor trade was shot and run over by members of a rival gang led by Dalpat Singh. The family of Hanuman Ram Jat had sat on dharna with the body to demand arrest of the accused. Meanwhile, protesters set shops and homes of the accused on fire and looted. They had also damaged police vehicles and pelted stones.
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