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Communal tension grips Jagatsinghpur
in Orissa

Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar

Communal tension gripped Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa on Tuesday after members of Hindu and Muslim communities attacked each other following a dispute over the use of burial ground in a village.

According to police sources five houses and one shop were torched in Piteipur village following the dispute.

"This was a fallout of dispute between two communities over a piece of land for funeral," a police official said.

While the Muslim community claims that the piece of land is a burial ground, the Hindu community maintains that the area is a grazing field for their cattle.

The two communities have been at loggerheads for over two decades over the land.

There have been several clashes over the 4.17 acre of land and the matter is sub-judice in the Orissa high court.

District administration officials told rediff.com that Tuesday's incident is a sequel to the violence on Monday in which some villagers pelted stones at the Maa Kanakdurga Temple in which the door of the temple was partly damaged.

This triggered a clash between the communities in which 15 persons including three children sustained injuries.

After this, the district administration called for a meeting of the village peace committee.

As per the schedule, on Tuesday afternoon, members of one community took out a rally on their way to attend the meeting.

Some of the members turned violent and torched the houses and a roadside shop. There were no reports of any casualty or injury in the incident.

In view of tension in the areas, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been clamped in Piteipur and the neighbouring areas.

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