Communal clashes in Vadodara, mobile & SMS service has been suspended.

Uneasy calm prevailed across a large part of the old city area in Vadodara on Saturday after two consecutive days of communal clashes on Thursday and Friday, with the government suspending mobile data and SMS services throughout the city for four days as a preventive measure to stop spread of rumours after consultation with city police. The police attributed the two days of communal tensions to images and messages being spread on SMS and mobile applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook. “On Thursday and Friday, rumours were spread across the city with the use of mobile applications and SMS which created panic and communal tension in sensitive areas, leading to clashes.

Even though nothing major had happened, the entire city was under the impression that something major had taken place. The government took the decision to suspend SMS and mobile internet service to prevent spread of rumours,â€

The mobile data services and SMSs of all telecommunications service providers were suspended by late morning, and officials said that the services will remain suspended till September 30, provided the normalcy returns, especially in old city areas that witnessed several communal clashes including stone-pelting, burning of materials looted from the shops and setting of dozens of two-wheelers on fire. The Thursday clashes were linked to photoshopped images of Hindu Goddess Maa Ambe and Lord Ram superimposed on Muslim Holy land of Mecca, which were spread across the city with the use of WhatsApp.

Police later arrested a youth, Sunil Raut in this connection following complaints from Muslim groups that alleged that the images hurt religious sentiments. Again, on Friday, gory images of persons belonging to a particular community being hacked to death were seen doing the rounds on social networking sites, with mobile phones playing a major role in their spread. This led to another flare-up in communal clash