From Delhi to UP ‘peaceful’ Kanwariyas turn violent

Delhi Police on Thursday have arrested one ‘Kanwariya’ in connection with the vandalism vehicles by a group of Kawariya pilgrims in Moti Nagar in Delhi on Wednesday.

The incident brought to light how more than a dozen Kanwar pilgrims brazenly attacked a car, and smashed its windowpanes with sticks, in Moti Nagar, even as a few cops present at the crime scene failed to stop them. The Kanwariyas reportedly were enraged after the car, which was being driven by a 25-year-old woman, allegedly touched them. The saffron-clad pilgrims wrecked the car, which was stranded in the middle of the busy road in the national capital, and eventually toppled it. Police officials said that occupants of the car, the driver and her friend, did not suffer injuries during the incident as they had rushed out of the vehicle as soon as the violent mobs started attacking them.

According to news agency ANI, the police had initially said that no formal complaint had been filed in the incident. However, the cops later registered a case against the unidentified pilgrims. A statement issued by the Delhi Police also claimed that cops had reached the spot 10 minutes after the incident and hence did not find the gathering of Kawariyas at the place. They also added that Kanwariyas had resorted to violence after one of them was slapped by one of the occupants of the car, following an argument between the two after a pilgrim was brushed past one of the Kanwar pilgrims.

​NDTV reports that incidents of hooliganism by groups of Kanwariyas, who are devotees of Lord Shiva who embark on a holy annual pilgrimage, was reported from Bulandshahar and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh as well. In Bulandshahar, the Kanwariyas ransacked a police van and also chased the fleeing cops. A similar incident occurred in Muzaffarnagar as well after a group of Kanwar pilgrims attacked a car. Both the incidents have been recorded on camera.