‘Chicken not beef..’: Jamshedpur police clarify meat was not hung on Hindu flag

Following a communal clash between Hindus and Muslims after the alleged desecration of a religious flag set up during Ram Navami, a senior police official from east Singhbhum, Vijay Shankar, rubbished false claims that it was chicken not beef which was hung on a rope between an electricity and flag pole.

Religious Hindus had protested and threatened the police to take action against the alleged perpetrators within 24 hours, visuals of which also surfaced.

Following misinformation that was spread in Jamshedpur, communal clashes broke out between the two communities with reports of alleged stone pelting.

Visuals of the burning down of at least half a dozen of small shops and vehicles, all belonging to Muslims, by a mob shouting slogans of Jai Shree Ram also surfaced.

In a statement released by the police, rubbishing the allegation, the official stressed that every piece of meat found cannot be of that prohibited.

The police officer stated that was a practice for meat shops to hang at a safe distance from the ground waste chicken meat to ensure that dogs do not spread it across.

Muslim organisations in the city have appealed to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for strict action against the perpetrators, failing which they will come to the streets to protest.

The situation turned violent on Sunday evening when a shop was gutted leading to brick-batting from both sides injuring six people. A mob also set on fire an autorickshaw, forcing the police to fire tear gas shells. DIG (Kolhan) Ajay Linda said that the shops and the auto-rickshaw were set ablaze by local miscreants.

So far, 59 people have been arrested in the case after an FIR was filed late on Monday.