2021 Kawardha riots and unrest | |||||||||
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Part of religious violence in India | |||||||||
Date | 3 October 2021[1] | ||||||||
Location | 22°01′N 81°15′E / 22.02°N 81.25°E | ||||||||
Goals | Arson, stoning, civil unrest and rioting | ||||||||
Resulted in |
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The 2021 Kawardha riots were incidents of religious violence between Hindus and Muslims that occurred in Kawardha, Chhattisgarh, India, between 3 and 7 October 2021.
Kawardha is a small city in the Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh. It is the home of former state Chief Minister Raman Singh and Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar. [2] The district is 92.4% Hindu and 7.76% Muslim. [3]
On Sunday, 3 October 2021, a group of Muslims and Hindus had an argument over the placement of religious flags in Loahara Naka Chowk in the town of Kawardha. [4] [5] [2] [6] [1] An eyewitness claimed that following the altercation, a green flag had been torn down, and some hours later, a saffron flag was removed in retaliation. [2] [1] Two days later, right-wing organisations, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, held a rally protesting the flag removal. The rally led to civil unrest in the region, including arson and rioting. The police conducted a lathi charge to disperse the protestors, [7] [1] invoked Section 144 (barring unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code, and imposed a curfew in the region. [8] [9] [10] [7]
The police stated that the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal had promised peaceful protests. [1] They registered a First Information Reports against several people, including Santosh Pandey, a Member of Parliament, and Abhishek Singh, a former Member of Parliament, both of whom were from the Bharatiya Janata Party. [2]