NEW DELHI, India : Police battled Hindu rioters, and stone throwing mobs of Hindus and ‘Moslems clashed Monday, leaving four people dead and more than 200 injured in two cities in a fourth day of violence over a disputed holy site

The casualties brought to eight the number of people killed in riots spawned by a court decision two weeks ago permitting Hindus to worship at a shrine in Uttar Pradesh State claimed by Moslems. The holy site had been closed to both religions for37 years because of the dispute.

The violence in Jammu, about 300 miles north of New Delhi, was touched off when a crowd of Moslems marched through the city’s main streets to protest the ruling, police said.

Hindus started a rival procession, and when police tried to stop their march, the Hindus hurled stones at them and set fire 10 a police jeep, The police charged the demonstrators and fired at least 100 tear gas shells.

Police said 200 people, about half of them officers, were injured in the battle, and 51 rioters were arrested.

In Sehore, about370 miles south west of the capital, mobs of stone throwing Hindus and Moslems clashed for a second straight day. Press Trust of India news agency said four people were killed and eight people were seriously injured, but gave no details of how the casualties occurred.

Sehore authorities barred reporters from the affected areas,

On Sunday, two people were Killed in Sehore, and scores injured, as Hindus and Moslems, some using swords, clashed.

In New Delhi, meanwhile, authorities relaxed a curfew in some areas, but paramilitary troops and Police continued patrolling the area for a fourth day, Police said they did not know when the curfew ‘would be lifted. Rioting erupted Friday during a one-day strike called by Moslems. One Moslem youth was killed and another seriously wounded when police opened fire,

Some 450 people have been arrested in the capital in connection with the rioting.

Violence also erupted Saturday in the northern city of Srinagar, ‘where one person was shot to death by police.

The disputed holy site is located near Faizabad, in Uttar Pradesh State, about 320 miles east of New Delhi. Hindus claim a temple had stood at the site until it was destroyed by invading Moslem armies more than 400 years ago but Moslems say a temple never existed before the Mogul Emperor Babar built a mosque there in the 16th century.

‘The mosque was closed by Ut tar Pradesh officials to defuse tensions between Hindus and Moslems over the site.

The disputed court ruling, which allowed Hindus to pray at the site, did not decide which religion the site belonged to.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 21, 1986