More than 30 people were injured in Muharram clashes across the country on Thursday. While at least 27 persons, including one policeman, were injured in a communal clash at Midnapore town in West Bengal, five persons, including four children, were injured when unidentified persons triggered a blast at Kargil Chowk in Godda in Jharkhand just before a Muharram procession was to reach there, police sources said.

Shops and a tazia were set on fire in Gonda and Balia districts of Uttar Pradesh during Muharram observance, triggering communal tension. A brawl involving two persons sparked stone-throwing and burning of a few shops at Cahalhari in Gonda, the district’s Additional Superintendent of Police Malik Chandra Saroj said. In Balia, a tazia was allegedly burnt at Chilbara, which flared communal tension in the area, said Additional Superintendent of Police Mahatma Prasad.

Even as tension in Midnapore in West Bengal evened out after imposition of prohibitory orders following clashes in the morning between two groups over the route of a Muharram procession, curfew had to be clamped in the Chak Kasi area of Howrah district in the state when a similar clash resulted in several residences and shops being set on fire. Senior police officers said the incident took place in Chak Kasi Bazar in Gaus Colony under the Bauria police station at around 5.30 pm. District Magistrate Khalil Ahmed said the police had to use tear gas to disperse the mob. The police said a huge contingent had been deployed in the area, including the district combat force and the Rapid Action Force.

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