A baton-charge on a religious procession of Hindu men, women and children by police and paramilitary forces left 12 injured on Friday morning, threatening communal peace in a pocket of Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh.

Villagers of Byor Qasimabad in Islamnagar tried to take the prabhat pheri (morning procession) — held to celebrate the arrival of the month of Magh — through the local Muslim colony, setting up a clash with the police.

Officers said the decades-old procession had for the past few years been taking an alternative route under an agreement, which it “suddenly” violated on Friday. The procession came up against a police picket, which later sought reinforcements.

A Muslim resident suggested the decision to change the route could be a conspiracy to create communal tensions ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.

Unconfirmed reports said Hindutva groups were
gathering in the area, intent on holding a march through Muslim localities.

“The police stopped us at 5am. While we were trying to persuade them to let us pass, they lathi-charged us,” Jeetendra Kumar, 40, lying on a cot outside his home with his right arm badly injured, told reporters.

“The police called three ambulances after beating us and took many of the injured to a community health centre,” he added while some people standing near him chanted “Jai Shri Ram”.

It’s unclear whether any child was hurt but Anita Devi, 50, suffered injuries to her
left shoulder.

“We have been organising this procession for decades. The local administration changed its route in 2014 under pressure from a particular community,” she said.

“We decided to follow the old route today but the administration called the police and the PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary) to attack us.”

Badaun (Rural) superintendent of police Hirdesh Katheriya, who was present during the baton-charge, said: “There was some dispute over the route and we used mild force to disperse them.”

He somewhat puzzlingly added: “Later, we learnt that they used to take this procession through the same route in the past, and allowed them to complete it (along the old route) peacefully.”

Katheriya confirmed that some people had been taken to hospital in ambulances. Only a handful of villagers completed the procession.

The 3km prabhat pheri is held every first of Magh, ending at a Shiva temple.

“The route was changed a few years ago on a complaint from the Muslim community. The villagers (processionists) were known to chant objectionable slogans there in the past,” a senior police officer in Lucknow said.

He said Muslims had met the police on Tuesday after Hindus decided to take the old route again.

“The police met the organisers (Hindus) on Wednesday and asked them not to go through the Muslim area since that could lead to law-and-order issues,” he said.

“But suddenly on Friday, some of them came down the disputed route and clashed with the police.”

Jeetendra denied that the processionists made provocative remarks while passing through Muslim neighbourhoods in the past.

A Muslim villager who didn’t want to be named told reporters: “Islamnagar is adjacent to Sambhal district, where hatred between Hindus and Muslims is deepening by the day. Some people from Sambhal are trying to poison Badaun, too, before the Assembly elections.”

The Sambhal administration has pulled down dozens of Muslim buildings including mosques, mazars and madrasas on the grounds of encroachment and illegal construction.