3 Killed in India Mob Violence

A Hindu activist was killed and 32 people, mostly police, were injured Sunday as Hindus clashed with Indian authorities trying to enforce a ban on large gatherings.

Police and paramilitary forces were attacked when they tried to break up a crowd at a train station in Paldi, 12 miles south of Calcutta. Police responded by beating the group back with sticks, lobbing tear gas and finally opening fire, said local government administrator Alapan Bandopadhyay.

Meanwhile, in Gujarat state in western India, two Hindus were killed and six injured when police fired at a mob setting Muslim homes on fire in Panvad village, about 60 miles from Ahmadabad.

A police official said 30 to 40 houses were burned.

In Paldi, dozens of Hindu hard-liners were defying a ban on gatherings of more than four people. The ban was imposed after more than 600 people were killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes beginning in late February.

A member of the fundamentalist World Hindu Council, which organized the gathering, was fatally shot. Twenty-five police officers were hurt by objects hurled by the mob; seven activists were injured.

Members of the Hindu group were preparing to hold a ceremony in support of a disputed plan to build a temple on the site of a razed 16th century mosque. The mosque was destroyed by Hindu fundamentalists in 1992.

On Feb. 27, Muslims torched a train car filled with Hindus returning from the site of the planned temple in Ayodhya, touching off more than a week of deadly violence.

Hindu hard-liners initially planned to begin construction of the temple this Friday, but they now say they will wait for the Supreme Court to rule.