By IANS,
Lucknow : Sixteen Muslims were arrested Friday for throwing stones at police officers in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, after an altercation during which a policeman allegedly made derogatory comments about Islam.
“In all 20 people of Muslim community were booked for violence, out of which 16 have been arrested today (Friday),” district police chief Amit Chandra told IANS by telephone.
The clash occured Thursday when police inspector Indra Singh had gone with his team to Saharanpur’s Muslim-dominated Ali-ki-chungi locality to investigate a rape case.
“While carrying out the investigations, the police inspector allegedly commented against Islam and Allah, following which the locals resorted to stone pelting in which at least 10 policemen were injured,” Chandra said.
He said Singh has been suspended and additional policemen have been deployed in the area.
Singh was investigating the rape of a minor Muslim girl. Her parents had registered the case around seven months back and alleged that their daughter was raped by a Muslim neighbour.