Uma Bharti, Ritambhara arrested in Jammu

By IANS,

Jammu : The police Saturday arrested Hindu leaders Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara who were to hold a public rally here, amid renewed violence over the Amarnath land row that left two people dead Friday forcing the authorities to call out the Indian Army.


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Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and Ritambhara were arrested when they arrived at Jammu Airport, sources said.

“They have been taken into preventive custody,” a police official told IANS.

The sources said the Hindu leaders were taken towards Udhampur side on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

Their presence in the city could have caused more problems, the official said.

Bharti and Ritambhara were to address a public meeting in Jammu Saturday afternoon.

The order barring their entry into the city was issued by district authorities under section 144 of the CrPC that disallows assembly of four or more people.

“It was considered necessary in view of the volatile situation in Jammu, where curfew is already in force,” an official explained.

Jammu’s Hindu population is protesting the revocation of a land transfer order that gave about 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), which manages the Himalayan cave shrine.

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