World’s bloodiest fair in MP leaves 500 injured

“Gotmar”, billed as one of the bloodiest fairs in the world, being celebrated annually in two villages in a MP district, on Friday left 500 people injured, three of them critically.

The villages, Pandur-na and Sanwargaon, separated by the river Jam in Chhindwara district, turned into a battlefield, with people on either side of the waterbody pelting stones at each other at the centuries-old “Gotmar” fair being held in the area.

The bloodsport, known in local parlance as “Gofar”, is played by people of the two villages when they hurl stones at each other at the “Gotmar” fair, orga-nised as part of their annual “Pola” festival.

The locals defied the ban imposed on the sp-ort by the Chhindwara district administration by taking part in the event. A majority of those hurt suffered head injuries.

“People suddenly app-eared at the villages on the river’s bank and indulged in stone-pelting,” a police officer, posted at the spot, told this newspaper.

Earlier on the eve of the festival, Chhindwa-ra district collector J.K.Jain declared a ban on the sport and clamped Section 144 of the CrPC in the two villages where the sport is ritually practised.

According to him, CCTV cameras have been installed in the area to keep track of revellers gathered at the spot. Besides, 600 security personnel have be-en deployed at the ven-ue to ensure peaceful celebration of the festival. The annual event has claimed at least 17 lives in the recent past.

The fair features a race between people of two villages who have to grab a flag hoisted on a tree in the middle of the river even as stones are pelted.

Local legend goes that the ritual began 300 years ago after a boy of Pandurna went to Sanwargaon to kidnap a girl, leading to a battle between people of two villages.