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Shoot-at-sight orders in Ranchi

Ranchi, July 26
With shoot-at-sight orders and curfew in vogue, the 24-hour Jharkhand bandh called by anti-domicile groups was by and large peaceful today in contrast to violence-marred shutdowns in the past one week.

Curfew was extended this morning to Sukhdevnagar and Argora areas while Doranda, Hatia and Jagannathpur police station localities were already under curfew since yesterday.

However, late in the evening, authorities decided to relax curfew for five hours tomorrow in Doranda, Hatia and Jagannathpur areas.

State police control room said over 100 persons were arrested during the bandh. Out of 39 arrests in the state capital, 33 were from curfew-bound areas. Sixty-four arrests were made at Jamshedpur, 20 at Dhanbad and four at Chaibasa.

Shoot-at-sight orders were issued against those attempting violence in these areas which witnessed mob fury on July 24 when five persons were killed, police sources said.

Though no reports of violence was reported from anywhere in the state, police said timely intervention by security personnel prevented some unidentified persons from beating up anti-domicile supporters at Namkum here this afternoon.

The state capital wore a deserted look with no vehicles plying. Shops and educational institutions remained closed.

The DGP control room sources said 64 bandh supporters were arrested at Jamshedpur.

The bandh in East Singhbhum and Saraikela-kharswan districts, where the July 20 bandh had been marred by large- scale violence, evoked a mixed response with stray incidents reported in the face of heavy police bandobast. Anti-domicile group Jharkhand Yuva Chatra Sangharsh Samiti, which called the bandh, its second after the July 18 call, claimed that it had the support of the Jharkhand Upekshit Manch, the Jharkhand Chatra Sangharsh Morcha and 36 other anti-domicile organisations.

A report from Jamshedpur said the Jharkhand bandh evoked a mixed response in East Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharswan districts where the July 20 bandh had been marred by large-scale violence. PTI, UNI