Prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were put in place in West Tripura’s Koitorabari village at Jirania on Monday over the desecration of an idol in a temple, police said.
The incident occurred late Sunday late night after an idol was desecrated by some unidentified people and a few hours later, another group of unidentified people attacked nearby areas.
Police said that at least 16 houses were gutted while three houses were also damaged. A few vehicles were also burnt in the incident.
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A suo moto case was registered at Ranirbazar police station and a probe has begun.
State transport minister Sushanta Chowdhury along with senior police officials had reached the site on Sunday night to take stick of the situation.
West Tripura district magistrate Vishal Kumar served a notification regarding restrictions on public movement from 1am on Monday for the next 48 hours.
“…as per information received from the Superintendent of Police, West Tripura vide No. 33403/SP(DIB)/WD/2024 dated 26.08 2024 there is an apprehension of breach of peace due to violent activities of a group of people under Jirania Sub Division… I, Dr. Vishal Kumar, IAS, District Magistrate & Collector, West Tripura District, Agartala am satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for imposing restriction on movement of people to prevent any untoward incident and to prevent breach of public peace and tranquility and imposition of prohibitory order u/ s 163 of the BNSS, 2023 is urgently required in entire jirania Sub Division under West Tripura from 1:00 AM on 26.08.2024 to 1:00 AM on 28.08.2024”.
Military, paramilitary force and state police personnel engaged in maintenance of law and order, government servants, movement of patients for immediate medical treatment would be out of the purview of the order.
According to locals, the villagers held a local meeting after the incident on Sunday.
“We have been staying in the village peacefully for the past several generations. We also contribute to the puja after raising funds from our families. We were about to sleep last night, when we heard about the gathering of many people. They burnt many houses, damaged vehicles”, said Suman Mia, a local resident.
West DM visited the area on Monday afternoon and said that the state government will compensate for all the damage reported in the incident that occurred last night. He also warned people to stay away from any kind of rumor mongering on social media and cooperate with the administration.
“We are working with police administration to ensure peace is maintained. We want to trace those involved in the foul play. We appeal to people not to share or comment on anything on social media. We are also working to identify such comments and act on them”, he said.
He added that nearly 7-8 families fled away from their homes due to the violence, however, the state government is working to restore peace and normalcy soon.
