17 March,2010 12:11 PM IST | | Agencies
Curfew in Bareilly was relaxed for 11 hours on Wednesday for the third time since it was imposed two weeks ago as normalcy returned to this Uttar Pradesh town following communal clashes, authorities said.
"As peaceful situation continues to prevail in Bareilly, we have decided to relax the curfew further for 11 hours," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Bareilly Range) Rajiv Sabharwal said.
"The curfew was relaxed for eight hours on Tuesday from 6 am to 2 pm. But, now the relaxation has been extended to 5 pm," he said.
Asked when the curfew would be lifted completely, Sabharwal said: "We, along with the district administration, are reviewing the situation at regular intervals. We hope we would be in a position to take a decision in this regard soon."
The authorities are reviewing the situation in Kila, Prem Nagar, Subhashnagar, Baradari and Kotwali areas of Bareilly as communal clashes were reported in these areas.
The protesters agitated against the release of Muslim cleric Maulana Tauquir Raza Khan, president of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, who was arrested for his alleged role in the communal clashes.
Khan gave a rabble rousing speech that led to communal violence in parts of Bareilly, police said.
A police officer said no violence was reported since Friday evening, when at least 15 people, including a senior police officer, were injured in clashes with protesters.
The educational institutions have been closed for the past two weeks in the district.
"Schools and colleges are likely to reopen on March 22," Sabharwal said.
"We have always said that our foremost priority would be resumption of schools and educational institutes. In our meetings with head of educational institutes, it has been decided that the schools and colleges can reopen from next week, most probably March 22," he said.
A minor communal clash followed by sporadic arson March 2 afternoon led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of Bareilly city.
Trouble sparked off over the passage of a Barawafat procession. What started with an exchange of hot words between members of rival communities almost instantly snowballed into a violent clash as members of a particular community went on an arson spree, burning down a few shops.
