Jhajjar (Haryana): Five persons were picked up on November 13 at a village in the state's Jhajjar district in connection with the lynching of five Dalits sparking violence in the area as villagers protesting the arrests clashed with police, prompting authorities to clamp prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more persons.

The five persons were picked up early November 5 morning from Sura village and its residents and others from adjoining villages blocked movement of traffic on three roads from Jhajjar to Gurgaon, Delhi and Rewari in protest against the police action.

As police charged with batons and lobbed teargas shells to remove the blockade, the mob hit back by hurling bricks, triggering the clash.

Four policemen, including a deputy superintendent, and some villagers were injured in the skirmish.

A number of villagers were rounded up in connection with the road blockade.

Activists of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad forced the closure of shops in the markets of Jhajjar. However, by the afternoon the shops reopened.

All schools and colleges in the district have been closed till November 15, official sources said.

Meanwhile, a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Narain Singh Kesri, told reporters at Panipat that the Commission had decided to summon the Haryana Home Secretary in connection with the probe into the October 16 incident in which the Dalits were lynched for allegedly skinning a cow.

PTI