Days after violence, shanties of 'illegal immigrants' demolished in Nuh

Nuh authorities bulldozed about 250 shanties allegedly encroaching upon government land in Tauru town, a police official said Friday, days after communal riots erupted in the district.

The official said the occupants of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) land were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who were earlier living in Assam and the shanties were demolished Thursday evening.

Nuh Deputy Commissioner Prashant Panwar however denied that the demolition was linked to the recent violence. He said it was part of a normal process of clearing encroachments.

The shanties were built over an acre of land and people have been living here for three years, police said.

Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by mobs on Monday. The violence subsequently spread to neighbouring Gurugram as well.

According to the police, 141 people have been arrested and over 55 cases registered in Nuh in connection with the violence.

Hindu organisations meanwhile took out a protest march against the Nuh violence in Gurugram's Pataudi area on Friday and called for a bandh. Markets of Pataudi, Jatauli and Bhora Kalan remained closed as a result of this.

The organisations submitted a memorandum through the Pataudi sub-divisional magistrate to the President, the governor of Haryana and the chief minister, demanding strict action against those behind the Nuh violence.

"Those who have tried to spoil mutual harmony and brotherhood in Nuh should be punished severely. This heinous act is condemnable," said Ajit Yadav, district president of the VHP.