Representational image. Photo credit: Rediff
UP’s Minorities Affairs Minister, Baldev Singh Aulakh has ordered a detailed probe from the Sambhal district administration about the exodus of Muslims from Nandrauli village in Sambhal district.
Muslim families fled the village after they were attacked by local Hindus and their houses burnt down in reprisal for a Muslim man’s elopement with a married Hindu woman on May 10.
While talking to the media, the minister said the chief minister has issued clear instructions that there should not be any exodus of any community from any district in the state.
“The culprits should be punished because the exodus of any community from a village is a shameful act,” he said. He also promised necessary action once the report is in.
Meanwhile, Iqbal Mehmood, six-term MLA from Sambhal said the issue will be raised in the state Assembly.
Muslims who fled the village had a harrowing time before finding shelter elsewhere.
“Taking our daughters with us, we ran for six hours into the jungle, to escape the rioters. They followed us on bikes and searched for us through the night,” recalled Yasmeen, a resident of Nandrauli village. It is her son who has allegedly eloped with a married Hindu woman.
“The families which have fled have taken shelter in adjacent towns and cities. They have refused to return and rejected the appeal of Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav,” Yasmeen told the media.
Sambhal Superintendent of Police, Ravi Singh confirmed that a few Muslims from the village have taken shelter with their relatives in neighbouring villages but insisted there was no exodus. “They will be back to their houses once normalcy will returns,” he added.
Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav from the Samajwadi Party has appealed to the Muslims to return to their village but those who have fled are reluctant to do so.
Sagir Ahmad of Nandrauli village said that the way persons of the other community struck the Muslim houses in the presence of cops created a fear among the minority community members.
Meanwhile the police administration has suspended the cops who failed to control the situation on May 10, and seven trouble-makers and the youth who had eloped with the woman have been arrested, reports the New Indian Express.