Chandigarh: A day ahead of Ambedkar Jayanti, four persons, including a police officer, were injured during a clash between members of the Dalit community and scores of upper caste men in Kapurthala district’s Phagwara town on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The incident occurred when a flex board was allegedly put up by the members of Dalit community at Paper Chowk, renaming the area as ‘Samvidhan Chowk’. The move was initiated to mark the birth anniversary of Father of the Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
A group of men from the upper caste objected to the board, leading to a clash between the two sides.
“The groups pelted stones at each other and opened fire, leaving four persons injured. Two of them are stated to be critical. Among them, an assistant sub-inspector of police was also wounded while trying to pacify the groups,” a police officer said, adding that injured have been admitted to hospitals in Phagwara and Jalandhar.
Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident. Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Tayab and SSP Sandeep Sharma also arrived at the spot.
“The flex board was put up without official permission, which led to the clash,” the SSP said, adding that an FIR will be lodged soon.
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