Cops nip chances of tension after Eid prayers in Malpura

Jaipur: A post-Eid gathering accompanied by chanting of religious slogans on a road in Malpura town of Tonk district caused traffic disruptions and raised an indication of communal tension on Monday morning, but swift police action nipped chances of any untoward incident in the bud.
Traffic disruptions began around 9am in the town, which has had a history of communal flare-ups, when a large number of people returning from Eid prayers formed a procession and chanted religious slogans. While the slogans were not provocative and were part of religious traditions, the sheer size of the gathering caused an inadvertent traffic congestion for a few minutes and raised alarms. Police intervened to clear the jam and dispersed the crowd.
"The road was blocked for a few minutes, and the crowd was dispersed. No conflicts or any tension took place," said Tonk SP Vikas Sangwan, adding that the slogans chanted were customary and normal. He urged people not to fall prey to misinformation.
By 9:30am, the crowd had been dispersed, and normal traffic flow resumed on the road. Police teams, however, remained stationed in the area to monitor the situation, and no further disruptions were reported.
Malpura was in the news in 2019 when curfew was imposed there following communal tension arising out of miscreants pelting stones at a Dussehra procession and rendering the burning of a Ravana effigy at its scheduled time impossible. In 2000, six people including two minors, were killed in Hindu-Muslim communal riots in Malpura. Eight accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in one of the cases of those riots by a Jaipur court in Dec 2024. In another case related to those riots, a Jaipur court acquitted 11 people accused of murder, attempt to murder, and arson.