STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Even though the State administration on Wednesday claimed to have cooled down tempers of agitated residents following vandalisation of famous Aap Shambu temple in Roopnagar area of Janipur, tension prevailed in parts of Jammu city as police and civil authorities continue to struggle to contain rumour mongering and spread of video clipping exposing identity of the youth dubbed as ‘mentally ill’ by the State government so far.
Senior BJP Minister Bali Bhagat who was specially flown in from Srinagar to establish contact with the local representatives of the protesters leading the demonstrations also managed to broker a peace deal after ordering a thorough probe into the matter and ensuring release of all 22 youth detained by the Janipur police in connection with violence late Tuesday night.
The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner Dr Pawan Kotwal, IG Jammu Range Danesh Rana, DC Jammu Simrandeep Singh and other senior police/civil officers.
On the other hand mobile internet services remained suspended throughout the day on Wednesday. They were suspended late Tuesday night to prevent spread of rumors flying thick and fast on the social networking sites.
The situation across the neighboring districts of Kathua,Samba, Udhampur, Reasi also remained tense as large number of protesters blocked National Highway at several places to register their protest over desecration of famous temple. Fuming with anger, the local residents in Samba and Kathua had blocked traffic on the National Highway and disrupted traffic causing hardships to motorists.
In another related development, senior Psychiatrist Dr Jagdish Thappa told STATE TIMES the accused youth involved in desecration of temple was not his patient.
“I have not examined him on Tuesday as claimed by his brother”, Dr Thappa clarified, saying he had not taken any appointment from him.
Dr Thappa claimed, “I open my clinic at 5.30 PM and according to police the accused youth was arrested around 4.30 PM from the temple premises.
During his visit to Jammu, Health Minister Bali Bhagat also met representatives of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others at PWD guest house where he gave them an assurance that all 22 youth would be released by the police. Delivering on the promise, the youth detained by the police were later set free by the police to restore order in the city.
In another related development, police has launched comprehensive probe to ascertain whether the accused youth is mentally sick or not.
During the day, several market places remained closed and traffic on the road was also scanty. The district authorities had deployed large number of policemen across vulnerable places to prevent any clash between two groups.
Old city area also witnessed ding dong battles with the police as youth pelted stones on them and burnt tyres in the middle of the road on Jammu Akhnoor Road near Muthi crossing. Senior police and civil authorities were keeping a close watch on the suspected movement of anti social elements to ensure peace and communal harmony.
