Curfew relaxed for four hours in Khargone city, more relief likely as situation normalising

KHARGONE: With the situation in riot-hit Khargone city in Madhya Pradesh returning to normalcy, the administration relaxed the curfew for four hours on Sunday morning, officials said, adding that the duration of the relief may be extended later in the day. Khargone city had witnessed communal clashes on Ram Navami last Sunday wherein stones were hurled, vehicles torched and some houses damaged, leading to the clamping of curfew in the entire city. Superintendent of Police Siddharth Choudhary had received a bullet injury.

Since Thursday, the administration has been relaxing the curfew every day for four hours in intervals of two hours each. On Sunday, the curfew was relaxed from 8 am to 12 noon to allow people to buy essential items and carry out necessary works, Khargone district collector Anugraha P said.

The stores selling milk, vegetables, provisions, and medicines among others were allowed to remain open during the curfew relaxation, an official said.

Further relaxation in the curfew can be granted from 3 pm to 5 pm on Sunday but a formal order in this regard is yet to be issued, the district public relations official said, adding that no fresh untoward incident has been reported from the affected areas. So far, 44 cases have been registered in connection with the violence and 148 people have been taken into custody, in-charge Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohit Kashwani said.

The curfew has been relaxed from 10 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 5 pm every day since Thursday, when it was relaxed for the first time after communal riots. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that Khargone is peaceful.