Amid Calls To Remove Nuh As Haryana District, Internet Back After 2 Weeks

Internet services have been restored in Haryana's Nuh where communal clashes broke out two weeks ago, leaving six people dead and several others injured.

Mobile internet, SMS and broadband services were suspended in Nuh in view of the "tense and critical" situation after the July 31 clashes between two groups.

The clash started over an attempt to stop a religious procession that was organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). 

Six people, including two Home Guards and a Mosque cleric, were killed, in the violence that later spilled over to Gurugram, Palwal, Faridabad and other districts of Haryana.

Several vehicles, food joints, and shops were set on fire by unruly mobs.

Rumours that cow vigilante Monu Manesar would attend the religious procession in Nuh allegedly sparked the communal clashes in the district.

Manesar is said to have posted a video on social media in which he claimed to be attending the Nuh religious procession and called on his supporters to come out in large numbers.

The cow vigilante said he did not attend the gathering at the advice of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which feared that his presence would create tensions in the area.

A special investigation team (SIT) will be formed to investigate the role of Manesar in the clashes, police said.

A mahapanchayat was organised by a Hindu outfit in Palwal yesterday where members demanded Nuh district be abolished. The area should be made cow slaughter free, a committee of 51 people decided at the meeting. 

The committee also decided to resume the Jalahishek Yatra again on August 28 in Nuh. The mahapanchayat called for strict laws for people coming from other countries. They should be thrown out, the committee said.

More than 390 people have been arrested and 118 others detained in connection with the violence, officials said.

Police have filed over 100 First Information Reports, or FIRs, for incendiary social media posts, the police said, adding that some accounts have also been identified which posted inflammatory content amid the violence.

Schools, colleges and other educational institutes reopened in Nuh last week. Bus services of Haryana State Transport have also been fully restored.