Haldwani remains tense after clash, toll rises to 5

Five people have been killed in the violence in Haldwani in Uttarakhand, officials said on Friday, a day after the demolition of an allegedly illegal madrasa snowballed into clashes between protesters and police personnel, even as security forces administered a strict curfew, while district officials claimed Thursday's hostilities were engineered and "planned in advance".

Authorities arrested four people and named 19 people in three FIRS on Friday, as they stressed that there was no fresh violence and that the situation was under control. Tensions, however, simmered in the town of 200 thousand people, roughly 260km.

southeast of the state's winter capital Dehradun, as locals said the demolitions flew in the face of court orders.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, meanwhile, held a review meeting in Dehradun and warned of action against people responsible for the violence. "Every rioter who indulged in arson and stone pelting is being identified... no one who disturbs harmony and peace will be spared..." he said.

The district administration identified the victims as Faeem Qureshi, Zahid, Mohammad Anas, Shabban, and Prakash Kumar, all residents of Banbhoolpura, where the violence broke out. Over 150 people injured in the clash were being treated in hospitals, said officials. Three of them are critical. The violence occurred a day after the Uttarakhand assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, which seeks to replace religious personal laws that govern marriage, relationship and inheritance, becoming the first state in India to do so.