An Army jawan being killed during the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar is a reminder that the annual pilgrimage is marked by violence and confrontation. In 2018 too, there were similar incidents where devotees clashed with the public
The Kanwar Yatra, which resumed after two years, saw a record turnout of 3.9 crore devotees in Haridwar. PTI
The Kanwar Yatra, which was held after a gap of two years owing the coronavirus pandemic, ended on Tuesday.
During the fortnight-long pilgrimage, which started on 14 July, Haridwar recorded a turnout of 3.9 crore devotees, a high from the 2019 numbers of three crore.
However, the yatra, which sees devotees of Lord Shiva walk for miles, ended on a sour note when it was reported a 25-year-old Army jawan was killed in Haridwar by pilgrims from Haryana.
News agency PTI reported that Kartik — a jawan from the Jat regiment of the Indian Army — who was also a part of a group of kanwariyas from Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to injuries on the way to a hospital.
The police has said that Kartik was attacked with batons and iron rods by the kanwariyas from Haryana when the two groups riding motorcycles were racing with each other and he drove past them.
The police have arrested six persons — Sundar, Rahul, Sachin, Akash, Pankaj and Rinku — in connection with the killing.
Haridwar Superintendent of Police (Rural) Pramendra Dobhal was quoted as saying that the incident took place when Kartik, hailing from Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar district, was returning from Haridwar after collecting Ganga water along with other members of his group.
What is the Kanwar yatra?
Also known as ‘Kavad’, the Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of the devotees of Lord Shiva organised during the Hindu month of Shravan.
During the piligrimage, the devotees, called Kanwariyas, carry Kanwars — decorated wooden structures containing vessels full of Ganga water on their shoulder for miles.
Devotees travel to the pilgrimage sites to fetch the waters of the Ganga or other holy rivers. They then tie the two pitchers to the pole, which they carry on their backs, as they travel across different states. The water is offered to Shiva temples, including the 12 Jyotirlingas across India and other shrines like the Pura Mahadev Mandir and Augharnath in Uttar Pradesh, the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple, and the Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar, Jharkhand. Devotees often carry the holy water to offer at temples in their towns and villages.
This year, the yatra began on 14 July and ended on Shravan Shivratri which falls on 26 July.
Violence during the pilgrimage
The army jawan’s murder is not the first time that violence has struck at the pilgrimage.
In August 2018, a mob of agitated kanwariya pilgrims in West Delhi’s Moti Nagar vandalised a car that had brushed past one of them on the congested road.
It was being driven by a woman whose male companion is reported to have slapped one of the pilgrims during the heated argument that followed.
The pilgrims subsequently vandalised the car. The woman and her friend fled the spot.
In the same year, another video had gone viral which showed pilgrims on the Kanwar Yatra vandalising a police emergency vehicle deployed to ensure their security in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, and even chasing the fleeing policemen.
As per an Indian Express report that incident had taken place when a person identified as Pappu, who lives in the locality was having a fight with another group over personal enmity.
In the clash, he called his Kanwariya friends to help him out. As soon as a police team reached the spot, they all attacked the vehicle as well the policemen, said the Indian Express report.
An incident similar to the one in Delhi was also reported from Muzaffarnagar. A group of kanwariyas vandalised a car after it brushed past them on the road.
Many times these acts of hooliganism is owing to the heavy traffic on the roads, especially in the Delhi-NCR region.
The Scroll writes in a report that Delhi’s two ring roads, which is packed with traffic during the best of times, sees an addition of thousands of pedestrians and their allied vehicles, leading to more congested traffic and flared tempers.
Moreover, there are also complaints that the administration and the police give the pilgrims a wide berth.
In the recently-concluded yatra, Uttar Pradesh authorities were seen showering flower petals from a helicopter on Kanwariyas.
In Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami washed the feet of the devotees.
With inputs from agencies
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