Home Minister Amit Shah today (Wednesday, July 3) summoned Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik over the communal clashes that flared up in the city’s Hauz Qazi area on Sunday over a dispute about parking and led to the vandalism of a temple.

Patnaik said after the meeting that “it was a general briefing about the Hauz Qazi incident and how the situation is.” “The situation is well under control now,” Patnaik told reporters after the meeting.

He said four persons, including a minor, had been arrested and no one involved would be spared. “We have the CCTV footage. These are a group of criminals… we are analysing the footage and all those involved will face action,” he said.

Over 1,000 security personnel –from both Delhi Policeand Central Reserve Police Force – havebeen posted in the area which remains tense.

On Sunday, a fruit seller, Sanjeev Gupta, had an argument with Aas Mohammad, who had parked his car outside his home. As the argument escalated, Aas Mohammad allegedly brought people with him and attacked the house of Sanjeev Gupta, who called the police.

As Aas Mohammad was called for questioning, a group demanded his release outside the police station. The group later attacked a temple in the neigbourhood and vandalised statues.

According to police, it all started on Sunday night with a parking dispute between a Hindu and a Muslim man in the locality but things turned ugly when a rumour spread that the Muslim man was lynched to death. The violence that followed involved alleged vandalism of a temple in the locality by a mob and sporadic instances of stone pelting, followed by violent protests by groups from both communities the next day.

According to agency reports, situation was normalising in Chandni Chowk’s Hauz Qazi on Wednesday. Shops had opened and locals offered prayers at the Durga temple that had allegedly been vandalised.

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Ballimaran AAP MLA Imran Hussain congratulated Delhi Police for bringing the situation under control while urging that incident be not politicized, “No one wants clashes here and markets have also opened. I congratulate Delhi Police which brought the situation under control. Bad elements, who did this, have no religion and action will be taken against them.” We should not politicise the incident, Hussain told ANI.

BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, in a tweet on Tuesday, called for “strict punishment” for the attackers. “Those who attack our place of faith and think they can divide us are wrong. We will not let the religious unity which is deep-rooted in Indian culture be affected by these acts. The attackers should get strict punishment and I appeal to the people of Delhi to maintain peace.”

Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi today tweeted, “Day 2 of the temple incident and no action yet by Home Minister, Delhi Police under the BJP rules Centre. We know the ruling party doesn’t care about minorities but does it also not care for the sentiments of majority?”

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