Stone pelting on cops in UP's Bareilly over removal of Ambedkar statue

Angry protesters resorted to stone pelting at cops over removal of Bhimrao Ambedkar statue, which led to police using mild force in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district on Monday. Police said the statue was installed on government land without permission.

Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh): Angry protesters resorted to stone pelting at cops over removal of Bhimrao Ambedkar statue, which led to police using mild force to disperse the restive crowd in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district on Monday. Police said the statue in question had been secretly installed in the dead of the night without permission.

According to sources, some unknown persons secretly installed a 4-feet statue of Ambedkar on government land on the intervening night of Sunday-Monday at Mohalla Sahukara in Sirauli, Bareilly. When locals came to know about this on Monday morning, they lodged a strong protest demanding its removal.

Local people also lodged a complaint at the Sirauli police station after which a team of police and civil administration including the local SDM reached the spot. The officials held talks with the people of the society who installed the statue and tried to persuade them to remove the idol, but to no avail.

As police started to remove the statue, some persons pelted stones on the cops after which the police used mild force to disperse the people who were creating a ruckus. Superintendent of Police Rural Rajkumar also reached the spot to pacify the locals and got the statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar removed from the public place where it had been installed without permission.

It is being said that the place where statue was installed in Sirauli is government land. At present the situation is peaceful in the area even as a police force has been deployed at the spot. Police said that strict action will be taken against those guilty in stone pelting as per the law.