New Delhi: A mob in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district on Sunday (February 1) vandalised and set fire to half a dozen Muslim houses, with the incident also leading to at least seven policemen sustaining injuries while trying to shield more than 20 people including women and children from the mob, reported The Hindu.The incident, which went on for several hours, took place in Dutkaiya village allegedly assaulted locals. One of the accused man is presently on bail on a temple desecration case.According to The Hindu report, Gariaband Superintendent of Police Vedvrat Sirmaur said that back in 2024, Arif Khan, a resident of the village was sent to a juvenile correctional home after he and two others allegedly vandalised the Chaveshwar Shiva temple in the village.The police said that Khan, who has now attained the age of 18, returned to the village on the early hours of Sunday and thereafter he along with two of his accomplices from Raipur allegedly assaulted four men, including at least one eyewitness of the desecration case. Prior to Sunday, Khan had not visited the village ever since he got bail in the case in the same year, reported The Hindu.Thereafter, a mob of several hundreds of people armed with sticks, bricks, stones and kerosene bottles gathered at the spot. The mob, which consisted of people from Dutkaiya and adjoining villages gathered allegedly tried to enter the homes of the 10 Muslim families who had locked themselves in.“The crowd set the vehicles ablaze and demanded that they be allowed to enter the homes of Muslims. Not only were we outnumbered but there was a manpower crunch due to the Rajim Kumbh [a major religious congregation in the State]. For the next few hours, we stood guard and ensured that the mob did not enter or harm the residents that included women and children,” said a police officer, reported The Hindu.“Attempts to pacify the crowd proved futile. We started shifting the trapped victims to one place,” said the police.The police team had to use force to disperse the mob while rescuing the more than 20 residents in the houses in a bus. While two adult members from these families sustained injuries, six policemen sustained grievous injuries while another cop suffered severe head injuries after being hit by a brick thrown by the mob, said The Hindu report.