Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench has extended the time for those served with demolition notice to reply to the PWD. The police have arrested 104 accused so far.
The number of arrests in connection with the Maharajganj communal violence here has risen to 104 even as residents of around two dozen houses who were served demolition notices thanked the high court on Monday for its 15-day relief and have pinned hopes on the judiciary to protect their homes.
After the killing of a youth during a Durga idol immersion procession and subsequent violence, notices were served to 23 establishments, including 20 belonging to Muslims, on the Kundasar-Mahasi-Nanpara-Maharajganj road in Bahraich by the Public Works Department (PWD) for alleged illegal constructions. The notices were served under the Road Control Act, 1964.
In a major relief to these people, the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench on Sunday extended the time to file their replies by 15 days and directed the state authorities to consider their replies and pass reasoned order. The bench has fixed October 23 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
"Now we are at peace. We are not worried about staying hungry. Our hopes now rest on the court order and we are hopeful that we will get relief from the court," said a Muslim woman.
A Hindu woman, reduced to tears, said, "All we want is our houses to be saved from being demolished. We are poor and without this house, we won't have a roof above our head."
"Bahut khush hain, court pe poora bharosa hai (we are elated and have complete faith in the court)," she said, adding that it was a challenging situation for the family which somehow makes two ends meet.
At the house of Nankau, son of Ram Prasad, a PWD notice is pasted on its outer wall.
"I was extremely worried till yesterday. I could not cook food thinking what will we do if we lose our home and shop, how will we survive," she told reporters.
But for the relief from the court, the recipients of the PWD notice feared demolition any moment, a local man said.
"I have papers of the property. My father lived here, now I have also lived more than half of my life. I would present the papers in the court and hope it would do justice to us," he added.
Ram Gopal Mishra, 22, had died of gunshot injuries during an inter-community ruckus in Maharajganj on October 13 allegedly over loud music being played during a Durga idol immersion procession.
The incident triggered communal violence leading to arson and vandalism, prompting heavy security deployment and internet suspension in the area for four days.
The police also lodged at least 11 FIRs over the violence and booked hundreds of suspected rioters, most of them unidentified.
On Monday, the police said the total arrests in connection with last week's communal violence has reached 104.
"On Sunday, 17 people from the Hindu side who were allegedly involved in the violence were arrested. Apart from these, challans have been issued to nine others in prevention action against them," a police official said.
"A total of 104 arrests have been made from both sides in the 11 cases registered so far," the official added.
Apart from these, a person named Sarfuddin, who is a resident of Bijjapurva under Fakharpur police station, was arrested on Sunday on charges of posting objectionable posts against a community on social media, according to the police.
Meanwhile, the market in Maharajganj was not fully open on Monday.
On different streets and roads, a few daily need grocery and utensils shops, paan shops, refreshment houses, fruit vendors as well as government bank branches were open but the movement of customers in them was negligible.
There are branches of Indian Bank and Aryavart Bank on the road where the incident took place, but there were very few customers there. A State Bank branch located a little away from the incident spot also had relatively more customers.
Earlier, the UP police nabbed six accused in connection with the murder of Mishra. Five of them, including key accused Abdul Hameed, were held after an encounter while they were allegedly trying to flee to Nepal, officials said.
There is a strict police vigil at Ram Gopal's house, barricades have been put up on the roads leading to the village and people are being allowed to go to the village only after questioning.
An outfit, All India Brahmin Ekta Parishad, on Monday submitted a memorandum - addressed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath - to the city magistrate.
"In the eight-point memorandum sent to the CM, it has been said that after the murder of Ram Gopal Mishra, the Brahmins were harassed by the police," district president of the outfit Deepak Trivedi said.
"All of us sympathise with the family of Mishra, but the police are harassing the people associated with the victim," he claimed.
On the other hand, the district unit of the National Ulema Council has also accused the administration of one-sided action.
On Monday, a group of people led by the District President of the National Ulema Council reached the Collectorate and handed over a memorandum - addressed to the Governor - to the City Magistrate, demanding a CBI inquiry into the entire incident.