Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 9 (IANS): Two brothers kill a man stalking their sister and the stalker's family kills both of them. It was a revenge killing that triggered sectarian violence in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district that has left 28 people dead.

On Aug 27, two brothers of a girl were beaten to death when they went to talk to the family of a stalker who was stabbed to death by them in Kawaal village.

Sources said police registered the first information report (FIR) against the parents of the girl who were not present on the spot.

The inclusion of parents' names in the FIR did not go down well with the majority community of the area, following which the sympathizers of the girl's family announced a panchayat in Kawaal Aug 31. The rival community opposed the plan.

Opposing the Kawaal panchayat, a parallel panchayat was planned in Khalapar area of the city. At this, the government representatives, including members of parliament and state legislature, and local leaders dared the Kawaal panchayat organisers to hold it at the appointed time on Aug 31.

The authorities concerned then assured the angered locals the Khalapar panchayat would be put on hold, and the civil administration after deliberations with the Bhartiya Kisan Union leaders Rakesh and Naresh Tikait announced that the scheduled panchayat had been postponed.

A huge gathering of about 40,000 people turned out but the Kawaal panchayat organizers called off the proceedings and announced the assembly again Sep 7. But when the participants of the - 'Beti Bachao Bahoo Bachao panchayat' - were returning to their homes they were attacked by swords at Basi village under Shahpur police station.

The police booked under the National Security Act (NSA) eight people, of whom seven people were from the majority community and one person was from the minority community.

The riot quickly spread to the neighbouring areas falling under Shamli and Meerut districts.

On Sunday, 48 injured people were admitted at district hospital.

The dead include two people -- one of them a photo-journalist -- who were killed in Khalapar, four killed in Bhopa, two killed in Mansurpur and one killed in Sikeda village. In addition, three people were killed in Kawaal and three people were also killed in Kutba village of the area.

"The administration has put the adjoining districts of Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr on high alert...," IG (Meerut Zone) Brij Bhushan told IANS.