The Ram Navami procession in Rishra was to start at 1pm on Sunday in keeping with a decision that had been made at a coordination meeting held at Serampore police station a few days earlier. But the procession started around 4pm and by the time the members reached Bari Masjid, the epicentre of violence in Rishra, evening prayers had started.
Senior police officers are yet to ascertain the reason behind the delay in the start of the procession as their current focus is on restoring normality and maintaining law and order at Rishra in Hooghly district. The officers admitted that the clash could have been avoided if the organisers had stuck to their scheduled timing.
"On Friday, two members from one of the outfits organising a procession went about visiting localities in our area. They invited people to join the Ram Navami procession on Sunday afternoon, if possible with women members of the families. We were told: Julush 1 pm sey shuru hoga (the procession would start 1 pm) and move down NS Road," Roshan Shaw, 40, a resident of TC Mukherjee Road close to Rishra railway station, said.
"Several residents gathered on either side of the NS Road from 1pm but the procession reached around 4pm. We still don't know why the Ram Navami procession was held on Sunday and why there was this delay," added Roshan, a trader who supplies wheat dough for noodles to restaurants at Rishra.
The police have detained Roshan's brother Deepak, 40, and his nephew Rohit, 22, for questioning.
Inside their modest house near Rishra fire brigade, the Shaws appeared to be distraught. The Ram Navami procession of Sunday had robbed them of the peace they would seek from God.
Several officials who were present at the police coordination meeting held at Serampore police station on Friday said four processions were scheduled to move out — one each from Sri Krishna Nagar, Subhas Nagar Housing, Bangur Park and Bagkhal — at 1pm on Sunday.
"A senior officer of the rank of deputy commissioner of police convened the meeting with an assistant police commissioner and the officers-in-charge of Serampore and Rishra police stations in attendance," said a senior police officer.
"Representatives from the organisers and the minority community were present along with the chairpersons of Serampore and Rishra municipalities. It was decided that no weapons would be allowed and the processions would start at 1pm. They will converge on the ground in the Mahesh area of Serampore."
The processions started late from their respective locations and trouble erupted at a spot adjacent to Jama Masjid in Rishra after two of them crossed the mosque peacefully.
This was around 5.55pm when several members of the minority community had gathered at the Jama Masjid and a few of them had started their evening prayers.
In the aftermath several shops were vandalised, carts set on fire, cars damaged as groups clashed leaving several people injured.
While it is yet to be ascertained what triggered the violence, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, who took part in the rally, shared a video on social media saying stones were pelted from a mosque.
An elderly Rishra resident, who could not recollect any such incident during his lived time, wondered how the police could allow such deviation from the agreed time.
"The procession started close to the evening prayer hours of those observing roza. It is a significant lapse of the administration to allow the rally to move on when they failed to stick to the agreed timing. That such lapse happened in the aftermath of the Howrah incident is even more shocking," he said.
On Wednesday, the mosque's imam Maulana Mohammad Zakir Noori denied the charges and even pointed out spots on the walls where stones landed on Sunday evening.
"I will not go into what triggered the violence because I was busy with the evening prayers. But arrangements were in place to ensure there were no flashpoints. I earnestly appeal that Rishra's brotherhood between communities remain unaltered as it has been for decades," he said.
As the imam spoke, a few kilometres away in Chinsurah, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, along with a few hundred supporters, stormed the headquarters of the Chandannagore police commissionerate to submit a deputation on the Rishra violence.
"The police are not taking proper action against the rioters," Chatterjee said even as Rishra residents, irrespective of their religion, prayed for peace to return.