Kendrapara, July 31: About a dozen people were arrested and houses were set ablaze during a group clash on Saturday night between two Dalit villages in this coastal kendrapara district.
Anticipating possible law and order situation and to avert tension, police deployment has been beefed up in the two villages, police sources on Sunday said.
The group clash was the outcome of a petty matter when a girl of Tilanga went to a shop in Haladia village with her niece to buy frooty where an altercation took place between the girl and the shop owner.
Some locals of Haladia later passed lewd comments to the girl and assaulted the victim girl’s uncle by stabbing a beer bottle on his back.
The situation later turned violent leading to a group clash between the people of two villages in which dozens of persons, including some women, sustained injuries from both sides.
The injured were later rushed to a local hospital for treatment and three of them shifted to SCB medical college and hospital at Cuttack in critical condition. The Haladia villagers lodged an FIR at Mahanga police station against the Tilanga villagers.
The Mahanga police later seized two bikes, three television sets and some arms from the houses of Tilanga villagers but failed to nab any villagers.
Taking advantage of the absence of the villagers, some of the Haladia villagers allegedly torched a couple of houses late Saturday night.
On the other hand, the Tilanga villagers on Sunday lodged an FIR against the Haladia villagers for assaulting and setting fire to the houses.
