A Muslim mob in the southwestern Indian city of Hubbali stoned a local police station on Saturday after becoming enraged over the station’s handling of a local Hindu resident who changed his Whatsapp profile photo to a photoshopped pro-Hindu image, India’s the Wire news website reported on Sunday.
“On the evening of April 16, a mob of Muslims began pelting stones at the police while protesting against what it thought was insufficient action against the accused who had posted a provocative photoshopped picture of a saffron flag [a Hindu nationalist symbol] hoisted atop a mosque as his Whatsapp status message,” the Wire relayed on April 17.
The large mob reportedly consisted of nearly 100 people, as police arrested 88 individuals for their involvement in the attack as of Sunday. The massive crowd hurled stones at the “Old Hubbali” police station as well as police vehicles parked outside the facility, causing significant damage to both. The riot injured at least 12 police officers on duty at the station at the time. India Today magazine described two of the wounded officers as in “critical condition” on April 17.
“A section of the mob reportedly also pelted stones at a hospital and a [Hindu] temple situated near the police station,” the Wire revealed on Sunday.
Hubbali police responded to the riot by using tear gas to disperse the mob. They further imposed a city-wide gathering ban late Saturday night that prohibited groups of four or more people from congregating outside.
The Wire said it spoke to “a senior Hubballi-based reporter [sic]” on April 17 who claimed that the local pro-Muslim groups “All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Popular Front of India (PFI) … allegedly mobilised a section of the community to agitate against the police and pressed the forces into taking stricter action against the accused. This led to further tensions in the community, following which the protests turned violent.”
The Wire identified the man accused of posting the controversial pro-Hindu image to Whatsapp as 20-year-old student Abhishek Hiremath, 20.
“Police officials informed [the Wire] reporters that Hiremath had been arrested when the violence first started, but the mob wanted more stringent action against him,” according to the news site.
Hubbali police additionally arrested “Hiremath’s classmate who circulated the screenshot of his Whatsapp status [to fellow Muslims in Hubbali],” the Wire reported.
“Among the arrested is the husband of an AIMIM councilor from the city, the party run by Muslim hardliner Asaduddin Owaisi,” the right-wing news website OpIndia reported on April 18.
“[The] Chief Minister of Karnataka has alleged designs of a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks. He has suggested that the attacks could be pre-planned,” OpIndia revealed on Monday.
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