On Tuesday night, communal violence erupted in Paldhi, Jalgaon district after a religious procession accompanied by DJ music was staged in front of a mosque.
The incident occurred when a 'dindi,' a religious procession, passing through Paldhi village on its way from Jalgaon to Vani in Nashik district.
According to police, a disagreement over the music being played in front of the mosque sparked a scuffle that escalated into stone pelting. While residents claimed that Muslim homes were looted and the property was damaged, police denied the allegations.
“There was a dindi that was being taken out from Jalgaon to Vani in Nashik district. There was music being played in the procession. The music was, however, shut down when the procession crossed the mosque. However, when the music was restarted after the procession crossed the mosque, there was stone pelting on the procession,” Jalgaon SP M Rajkumar said.
In fact, the SP and other senior district police officials were in the town, which is 14 kilometres from Jalgaon, at the time of the incident.
According to the police, there was stone pelting between the two sides, but order was quickly restored.
According to a police press release, two cases have been filed so far on charges of rioting and assault on government officials, respectively, in which nine Hindus and 63 Muslims have been named.
“The mosque is located very close to a police outpost. However, despite that, many Muslim houses in the vicinity were attacked and looted,” a local resident, who did not wish to be named, said.