Oral Answers to Questions — India – in the House of Commons am ar 9 Hydref 1924.
The most important day of the Festival of the Muharram was the 12th August. The processions connected with the ceremony was carried out without any important breach of the peace throughout British India. But on the previous day there occurred at Gulbarga in the Nizam's dominions a serious collision between the two communities. On the 23rd August there was a less important incident of the same kind in Bhagalpur in Bihar which was stopped by the police after 12 persons had been injured. On the 30th August a Hindu procession was attacked with stones by Moslems in Nagpur, in the Central Provinces, and there was some looting, but order was quickly restored. Eleven persons were injured, of whom one died in the hospital.
On the 9th and 10th September, serious disturbances occurred in Kohat in the North West Frontier Province. They originated in the publication of a scurrilous anti-Moslem pamphlet. The actual violence commenced with shots fired in panic by Hindu residents of the city. The disorder was accompanied with incendiarism and looting, and very large material damage was caused before order was restored with the help of the troops. Almost the whole of the Hindu popula- tion of the city (though not of the cantonment) left the place for Rawalpindi. The casualties ascertained are as follows—police, 6 injured; Hindus, 20 killed, 24 seriously injured, 62 slightly injured, 16 missing, of whom it is believed 9 are unidentified bodies included among the 20 killed; Mohammedans, 11 killed, 6 seriously injured, 17 slightly wounded. There have been large recoveries effected of the loot carried off by neighbouring villagers, and on the 19th September it was reported that the city was now quiet. A full report by the Chief Commissioner of the Province has been called for by the Government of India.
On the 12th September, fighting between the two communities broke out in Lucknow City as a result of protracted bickering. The immediate occasion was a clash between hours of worship in one locality. Here also the troops were called in to patrol, but there was no fighting and the casualties were not numerous, only four deaths and thirty cases of injury having been reported.
On the 22nd September similar fighting began at Shajahanpur in the United Provinces. Quiet was restored next day, but rioting occurred again on the. 24th, and military assistance was called in from Bareilly. The troops were sufficient to maintain order and to disperse gatherings of villagers who attempted to enter the city. The total casualties reported here up to the 25th September were six killed and 104 wounded. Full reports regarding these riots in the United Provinces are expected by mail.