Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police on October 23 barred Samajwadi Party leader Sumaiya Rana from entering Bahraich district, which has seen communal violence in mid-October. This comes after the state administration prevented a delegation of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind from visiting the violence-affected area

Rana, the vice-president of SP’s women’s wing (Samajwadi Mahila Sabha) and daughter of the prominent Urdu poet, the late Munawwar Rana, was on her way to Maharajganj in Bahraich. She was carrying blankets to distribute to those whose homes were torched during the violence that erupted on October 13 during an idol immersion procession. The violence led to the killing of a Hindu youth, Ram Gopal Mishra. Mobs retaliating by attacking Muslim homes, looting them and setting them ablaze.

.As Rana approached the violence-affected areas of Maharajganj in the afternoon, police stopped her near Fakharpur Kotwali, saying tha all outsiders are restricted from entering the area until the situation has normalised

According to police, the ban is a preventive measure to maintain peace in riot-hit areas.

Abhinav Pratap Singh, the Station House Officer of Fakharpur, informed The Wire that the decision was “taken by top officers” to “avoid any untoward incident”.

A Jamiat delegation, sent by Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani from New Delhi, was similarly stopped at the Lucknow airport on October 19 by the state police