Communal violence a cause of concern; 427 deaths in 3 years

NEW DELHI: Communal violence has become a major cause of concern for the government with as many as 2,420 such incidents reported from across the country in past three years that resulted in the death of at least 427 people.According to home ministry statistics, 53 people were killed and 1,059 injured in 338 incidents of communal violence this year till August. Of these incidents, 10 people were killed on September 14 in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district while four persons lost their lives in Rudrapur town in Uttarakhand's Udhamsingh Nagar district on October 2."Communal violence has become a major cause of concern for the Centre. We have advised the state governments concerned to deal with such incidents firmly as communal disturbance could have far reaching consequences in the society," a home ministry official said. In 2010, 114 people were killed and 2,115 injured in 651 incidents of communal violence in the country. In 2009, 123 people died and 2,417 were injured in 773 incidents of communal clashes while another 123 lives were lost in 656 incidents of communal violence in 2008. More than 2,270 people were also injured in those clashes in that year.