Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 4 : Law and order is "completely under control", an official said and cautioned people to remain vigilant against "rioters", amid a tense situation prevailing in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly, where protests over "I Love Mohammad" posters on September 26 turned violent.
District Magistrate Avinash Singh told ANI, "Law and order is completely under control. After last Friday's prayers, some attempted to disrupt the district's peace and order... The police administration foiled this within 1-1.5 hours... Yesterday's Friday prayers were concluded peacefully... All schools, colleges, and offices here are open..."
He also urged the public to report to the police any activity that threatens law and order and pointed out the role of society in maintaining law and order.
"If anyone feels that a person is trying to spoil the atmosphere, they should definitely bring that matter to the notice of the police... We have named our public as soldiers of harmony... There is peace throughout the district. Rioters have no caste or religion. We must remain vigilant against such people..."
Meanwhile, an MP delegation of the Samajwadi Party, including Mohibbullah Nadvi, Iqra Hasan, and Harendra Singh Malik, enroute to Bareilly following last week's 'I Love Mohammad' row, was stopped at Ghazipur border by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday.
Visuals showed the members of the delegation arguing with the police personnel deployed to maintain law and order.
SP MP Mohibbullah Nadvi told ANI, "... We are being stopped from going to Bareilly. This is unconstitutional... The BJP government first oppresses people with great vengeance and then tries to cover it up..."SP MP Iqra Hasan linked the situation with an "undeclared emergency" and said that their visit does not have an agenda."We don't understand on what grounds we are being stopped in the way of an undeclared emergency. We request the administration to accompany us. We are not trying to hide anything. We don't have any agendas... I don't know which of its evil deeds the UP government wants to cover up that its not allowing us to go to Bareilly..."
In response to the unrest, the Bareilly administration suspended mobile internet and broadband services for 48 hours, from 3 pm on October 2 to 3 pm on October 4.
Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) National General Secretary Nafees Khan and his son Farman Khan in connection with the September 26 protests in Bareilly, taking the total arrests in the case to 81.