The confrontation occurred on Sunday at Kingaon village in Yawal taluka, where residents objected to the route of a Dussehra-related march. Police said several RSS participants and officers were injured as stones were thrown during attempts to clear protesters blocking the road.
Additional Superintendent of Police Sandeep Gavit said more than 15 people had been detained and that officers were preparing to register a first information report. The investigation was continuing, with additional police personnel stationed in the village to prevent further disturbances.
The procession eventually proceeded under police protection after officers dispersed demonstrators. Superintendent of Police Shrikant Dhivare said the situation had returned to normal and security personnel remained deployed across the affected area.
The dispute began when a group of residents opposed the RSS march passing in front of a mosque. Muslim women joined the protest, sitting on the road outside the place of worship and preventing the procession from following its planned route.
Police tried to persuade those assembled to move away before using batons to disperse the gathering. Dhivare said officers had spent between two and two-and-a-half hours attempting to resolve the confrontation through discussion.
The superintendent maintained that the organisers had obtained police permission for the procession and were entitled to use the authorised route. He said the police had repeatedly requested that protesters withdraw their objections and allow the march to proceed.
Gavit separately confirmed that officers had attempted to convince demonstrators to clear the road but encountered continued resistance. Police then carried out what officials described as a mild lathicharge, or baton charge, to restore access to the route.
Stone-throwing took place as tensions escalated around the blocked procession. Accounts of the confrontation differ over precisely when stones were thrown and who initiated the violence. Police have not publicly established individual responsibility for the stone-throwing, and the identities of those detained have not been disclosed.
The reported injuries to RSS participants and police personnel underscore the seriousness of the confrontation, although officials have not provided a comprehensive casualty figure or detailed medical assessments. There was no confirmed information about serious injuries among the protesters.
Senior officers travelled to Kingaon as the confrontation unfolded. Alongside Dhivare and Gavit, divisional police officer Anil Badgujar was among those involved in the response. Reinforcements were brought into the area as police worked to separate the opposing groups and secure the procession route.
Dhivare said the procession was completed peacefully after the intervention. His account distinguished the disorder surrounding the route dispute from the subsequent conduct of the march, which continued once the road was cleared.
The incident centred on objections to a specific stretch of the approved route rather than a reported prohibition on the RSS gathering itself. The protesters’ detailed demands, including whether they had proposed an alternative route, have not been formally set out by police.
The RSS, a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, conducts uniformed route marches as part of its public activities. Sunday’s event was described by organisers and police as a Dussehra procession, with permission secured before participants assembled in Kingaon.
Authorities have not announced whether charges will be brought against every person detained or whether additional suspects are being sought. Detention does not itself establish criminal responsibility, and the investigation must determine who participated in the violence and whether any offences occurred during the protest or the police response.
Police officials said their immediate priority was maintaining order following the confrontation. The additional deployment remained in place even after the march concluded, reflecting precautions against renewed clashes in the village.
The police account has not clarified whether any weapons other than stones were involved, how many people joined the sit-in, or whether the detained individuals belonged to either of the groups at the scene. Those unanswered questions are relevant to the inquiry, but officials have so far confined their statements to the obstruction, police intervention and restoration of order.
Kingaon is situated within Yawal taluka of Jalgaon district. Officers from surrounding areas were called to assist local personnel as senior district police officials supervised efforts to reopen the road and allow the authorised procession to finish.
