The alleged abduction and circumcision of a mentally ill ethnic minority man has led to clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Seoni, central India, prompting authorities to impose an overnight curfew on Thursday.
Trouble began after two Muslim men allegedly abducted the 34-year-old ethnic Gond man in a forest on the outskirts of the town on February 2.
The perpetrators then allegedly left the man in the forest following the circumcision and he then returned home, bleeding, prompting his family to file a complaint with police.
Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, World Hindu Council, took to the streets in protest over the incident on Thursday. The group reportedly pelted a mosque with stones.
Authorities responded by calling together religious and community leaders but “as tension continued we imposed a curfew,” said Police Superintendent Rakesh Jain.
Extra police were deployed to try to maintain law and order in the town, whose district has a population of 1.3 million people.