The brawl over hoisting the Tricolour on Independence Day in Rohtas district is all set to snowball into a major issue with a section of people of the area giving a call for dawn-to-dusk bandh in the Shahabad region on Friday.

One person was killed and 42 others were injured when two groups of people belonging to the Mahadalit community and an upper caste clashed over hoisting the national flag at Baddi in Rohtas district, around 165km southwest of Patna.

The members of the Shaheed Nishant Singh Memorial Committee held an urgent meeting on Wednesday and decided to launch an agitation in phases to protest what they called “one-sided action” of the district administration in connection with the incident.

In the first phase, the committee has given a bandh call in Shahabad, which comprises Rohtas, Buxar, Bhojpur and Kaimur districts. “The people have been urged not to go for any act of violence and hold peaceful demonstrations during the bandh,” committee spokesman D.K. Singh said.

He alleged that the district authorities cancelled arms licences of six persons, who were provided the same to fight against the Maoists. “The cancellation of arms licences has created a sense of insecurity among the people of a particular section,” he said, adding that even those people who were not present on the scene have been made accused in it. He said the committee would launch indefinite agitation and stage dharnas at the district headquarters of the region.