Authorities in Haryana on Saturday banned mobile internet and bulk SMS services in the Nuh district till August 28 as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad said it would go ahead with a procession despite the administration denying permission for it, PTI reported.

The district administration also prohibited four or more persons from assembling in public under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Further, the authorities banned residents of the district from carrying weapons such as licensed firearms, sticks and axes in public.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is planning to resume its Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra on August 28. The procession was stopped in Nuh on July 31 after it was pelted with stones by a mob of local Muslims. Communal clashes then broke out in Nuh between Hindus and Muslims, and the violence spread to neighbouring Gurugram in the following days.

Hindu mobs went on a rampage in Gurugram, torching a mosque in Sector 57, killing its deputy imam and setting fire to shops and shanties of Muslim migrant workers in Sector 70 on August 1. The violence in the two districts left six persons dead – including two home guards, an imam at a mosque and a Bajrang Dal member.

Authorities have denied permission for the procession on August 28, noting that the local police and intelligence have expressed apprehensions that law and order may be disturbed, ANI reported.

However, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Surendra Jain expressed confidence that the local administration would provide security for the procession and would facilitate it. “Permission is not taken for religious processions,” he said, according to ANI. “For religious processions, the administration itself comes forward, extends cooperation and ensures security.”

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How communal violence swept Haryana’s Nuh and Gurugram: A timeline