Sonipat: Several people have been arrested after some armed men with lathis allegedly barged into a mosque in Sandal Kalan village in Haryana’s Sonipat and attacked people offering namaz and vandalised the place, police said on Monday.
The cops have so far arrested 10 people for the “unprovoked attack”.
In order to maintain peace in the village, an additional police force has been deployed, a Sonipat police official said.
Further speaking about the incident, District Commissioner said that ...the issue is nothing... some people including youth were consuming liquor... elder people were also present... some arguments took place which resulted into this.
Another person said that there are some anti-social elements in every community who involve in such activities.
Sonipat Police Commissioner B Satheesh Balan said that information was received at night that some anti-social elements had entered the mosque. They beat up those offering prayers.
“It was an unprovoked attack. There was no previous incident reported in the village which would have caused disharmony (between communities),” he said.
Pictures of the alleged attackers carrying lathis in their hands and roaming the streets of the village had surfaced on social media.
According to the locals, some youths from the village asked people inside the mosque who were offering prayers to stop it and later vandalised the place.
Some children were also inside the mosque at the time of the incident, they claimed.
The arrested youths belong to the same village. They have been booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to hurting religious sentiments, the police official said.
"Strict action as per law will be taken. Such hooliganism will not be tolerated," Balan said. Police said the small mosque is built by the community in the village.
A meeting regarding the matter was also held at the residence of the village Panchayat in Sandal Kalan.
(With inputs from PTI)
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