Nine injured as brawl snowballs into clash in Delhi

At least nine persons were injured here in stone pelting as a drunken brawl between two youths triggered a clash between members of two communities, police said on Saturday,

Around 15 people of Asola village in south Delhi have been arrested for the violence which has caused tension in the area.

"The incident happened on Friday night when two youths had a brawl after consuming alcohol, which later turned violent after elders jumped into it," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nupur Prasad told IANS.

"At least nine people received minor injuries in the stone pelting, and were admitted in hospital," she added.

According to police, the brawl after a minor argument between two youths who were drunk soon took a bigger and uglier aspect when members of the Valmiki and Jatav communities clashed with each other and started pelting stones. A few vehicles and houses were also damaged.

Mithilesh, who suffered injuries on his hand, told IANS: "We are being harassed by Valmiki community people."

About the reasons for the clash between the two communities, Mithilesh, who hails from the Jatav community, claimed that the youth of Valmiki community are harassing girls.

"A week ago they teased one of the girls of our community after which we had a fight. Even three days back few of the youth threatened our families with dire consequences," he added.

However, the ADCP denied this charge, saying: "That was a separate case on June 27. We have arrested a youth in that case under Section 354 of the IPC. The arrested youth does not hail from the same area."

"Following the stone pelting police has been deployed in the area. A few of our men were also injured," she said, adding: "The situation is under control as we acted swiftly."

Since morning, 25 people were detained for rioting, but seven to eight youths who were minors, were released and the rest arrested. A case has been registered for rioting, the officer added.

--IANS

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