The entire conversation may be watch here.

Related:

Farm leaders reach Muzaffarnagar, reports of pressure on young victims father to not press charges: UP

Two men convicted in case of gang rape: Muzaffarnagar 2013 communal violence

No hope for Rape Survivors: Muzaffarnagar Riots 2013

The post This country’s identity lies in its diversity, Muzaffarnagar 2013 violence was a blot, we need to guard against communal hatred: Yudhvir Singh, BKU appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The story of the communal violence that preceded the 2014 Lok Sabha polls continues to haunt even as the Assembly polls are underway in UP.

Why does every bout of brute, targeted violence inevitably become a battleground for sexual violence against the community’s women?

We saw this gruesome pattern during the bloodshed that surrounded India’s partition. Sikh, Muslim and Hindu women in equal measure were held to account, in revenge and wrath for what was perceived as the fault of the community they belonged to.

The same pattern has held true in various parts of India and South Asia thereafter – in the brute post partition anti-minority bouts of violence in India, including the violence suffered by Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley.

Unmatched in gruesome scale and scope were the Gujarat 2002 massacres, where by the state’s own admission, as many as 193 women and girls, of the Muslim minority, were targeted and attacked. (Independent assessments put the figure closer to 250).

Several lessons have been learned from the struggle for justice in Gujarat that has, to date, in an unprecedented “success rate” convicted over 172 powerful perpetrators. In three of the criminal trials, the narrative of gendered violence found space during the court proceedings.

The need for thorough recording of the first information report, independent investigations, time bound trials and a robust witness protection programme are the prerequisites of any struggle for justice as the robust Gujarat experience shows. Over 570 witness survivors, lawyers and human rights defenders, to date have such protection by the para-military, guaranteed by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s continuous monitoring the progress of the trials also ensured some degree of redressal as time wore on and the investigating agencies slipped into cruel lethargy.
 

Losing hope in western Uttar Pradesh

It is, this month, a decade and a half after the state-wide carnage in the western Indian state.
 

Three years and five months ago, four districts of western Uttar Pradesh that have just celebrated democracy’s ultimate festival, the Assembly elections in the state, saw just such an upsurge. Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Shamli and Meerut erupted nine months prior to India’s general elections in May 2014 with targeted violence.

Not only were more than 60 lives lost and several thousands of the minority community internally displaced (this author was witness to deaths by the cold, of women and children, in the open-field relief camps all over the districts) but women, as usual bore the brunt.

Seven courageous women complained and documented their tale. Despite the Supreme Court of India being seized of the matter, not once but twice, and even passing salutary directions on several pleas, the abject failure of state mechanisms to deliver real and substantive justice raises questions of institutional accountability towards the dignity, justice and the well being of its citizenry, especially if the victim survivor hails from the voiceless – uninfluential – section of our people.

Amnesty International’s detailed report of its investigation of this targeted communal violence, Losing Faith – The Muzaffarnagar gang-rape survivors’ struggle for justice, is a testimony to the courage of the survivors and an exposure of the hollow claims of the protection of constitutional rights by the Indian state. Celebrate as we do election time and the festival of the ballot, little do issues of human rights and dignities matter when the campaign trail blazes shrill and strong. In the immediate aftermath of the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh, exactly where the tragic tales of the rape survivors are located, will this narrative have any impact?

Of the seven rape survivors, one died in child birth last year. A month before she died, she said to Amnesty, “If those responsible are brought to justice, I will be happy in my heart. I will not live in fear anymore “(Esha, a gang-rape survivor, July 2016). Her evidence had not even been recorded before she died. A petition for the transfer of her case outside the district of Muzaffarnagar had been filed in April 2016 and is, shockingly, still pending. Of the other five, two have been forced by bitter court delays and the force of circumstance to turn “hostile”.
 

“Fair trial means a trial in which bias or prejudice for or against the accused, the witnesses, or the cause which is being tried is eliminated. If the witnesses get threatened or are forced to give false evidence that also would not result in a fair trial.”
— – Supreme Court of India, Zaheera Sheikh v State of Gujarat, 2006
 

The detailed narratives of all seven survivors reveal the utter failure of the state to preserve and protect witness testimonies. Not only was police protection denied to them but the deliberate and prolonged delays in the hearings and the constant intimidation and threats by the alleged accused have ensured a pervasive culture of impunity to the perpetrators.

In all seven gang-rape cases, the police took months to file charges, and even after they did so, trials have proceeded extremely slowly, making a farce of the famed 2013 amendment to Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that dictates “day-to-day hearings until all the witnesses in attendance have been examined, “ and completion of a trial, in rape cases “within two months”.
 

One of the complainants, Fatima, tried unsuccessfully to file an FIR on September 20, 2013 and finally succeeded only on October 9 that year. Another, Ghazala, sent her complaint as early as October 22, 2013, but the police registered an FIR only after the issue was raised before the Supreme Court, on February 18, 2014. Ghazala too has applied for her case to be transferred out of the district. She told a trial court in January 2016,
 

“I am extremely apprehensive of coming to the Muzaffarnagar District court as the accused persons and their family members who all belong to the dominant community wield considerable influence in this area. I fear that harm will be caused to me and my family when I go to give my evidence in the Muzaffarnagar District court.” 
 

The National Commission for Minorities, too, after a visit to the area in June 2014, has documented several complaints “about harassment of rape victims”.

Though the initial directions from the Supreme Court ensured that Rs 5,00,000 in compensation was paid to these survivors, the absence of any livelihood and continued threats and intimidation by perpetrators and even the police have rendered their existence fragile.

The continued need for robust and persistent legal aid, adequate reparation as also the enactment of a law to prevent communal violence (a task this country aborted mid-track in 2014), as also a witness protection programme are the need of the hour. Only through police reform will we reach a stage where there is thorough and independent investigation.

But the ruling dispensation in New Delhi remains blind to the fact that some of its cadres and party men even today remain accused of being the perpetrators of such hate-filled acts of vengeance and of further intimidating those who dare struggle for lasting peace through justice.

Teesta Setalvad is secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace.

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BJP elected representative and legislator Vikram Saini and 11 others were sentenced on Tuesday, October 11 to two years imprisonment in a Muzaffarnagar riots case by a special MP/MLA court. Apart from convicting them of rioting and other offences, the court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each. The Special Judge Gopal Upadhyay acquitted 15 other accused in the case for lack of evidence.

The BJP MLA and 26 others were facing trial for their alleged role in the violence at Kawal village when a crowd was returning after the cremation of two Jat youths. This is the second Muzaffarnagar case which has ended in conviction.

The killing of the two youths – Gaurav and Sachin – and one Shahnawaz triggered led to riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in August and September 2013, claiming 60 lives and leaving 40,000 people – many of them Muslims – displaced. Saini was then the pradhan of Kawal village.

Saini, now the BJP MLA from Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, has told the media that he will file an appeal against the verdict. The MLA and others were taken into custody and later granted bail on furnishing two sureties each of Rs 25,000 for approaching the high court.

All 12, including Saini, were convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), and 149 (unlawful assembly). Vikram Saini was also booked under the National Security Act.

Saini is the BJP MLA from Khatauli. Saini has been in the news consistently, for controversial reasons. After Article 370 was read down in August 2019, he reportedly said that that BJP workers were “excited” because they could marry “fair girls from Kashmir”. A serial hate offender, in January 2019, Saini also said that those who do not feel safe in India “should be bombed”. In January 2018, he declared that since India is called ‘Hindustan’, the country belongs to Hindus. In early 2022, while campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections was afoot, Saini was chased away from a village in his own constituency. He was, however, elected as an MLA for the second time.

Saini’s lawyer Bharatveer Ahlawat told the media that an appeal would be filed against the judgement. “The court has acquitted all accused from the charge of attempt to murder,” Ahlawat said. Government counsel Narendra Sharma told the Indian Express that 11 people, including Saini, were convicted under charges relating to rioting, rioting armed with deadly weapons, act endangering life or personal safety of others, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation.

Sharma said the 12th accused was convicted under the Arms Act. “The court, later in the day, granted bail to all 12 accused including Vikram Saini. They were released after depositing two sureties, of Rs 25,000 each.”

He also said 15 others were acquitted in the case for want of evidence. In all, nine prosecution witnesses were examined by the court. The Muzaffarnagar riots that spread to neighbouring districts left 62 people dead and displaced an estimated population of over 60,000.

According to the prosecution, the case is of August 28, 2013 after youths Shahnawaz, Sachin and Gaurav were killed at Kawaal town in Muzaffarnagar. Police said Sachin and Gaurav, the main accused in the murder of Shahnawaz, were killed by villagers. The killings triggered communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts. According to Sharma, a communal clash took place on August 28, 2013, when families of Sachin and Gaurav were returning home after performing their last rites. Police reached the spot and detained nine persons.

An FIR was filed against 28 people and police later filed a chargesheet. During the course of trial, one person died, Sharma said. All accused were out on bail during the trial.

Hate speech is not prosecuted

As Sabrangindia had reported, a Muzaffarnagar court has accepted the closure report filed by Special Investigation Team (SIT) with respect to BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s controversial statement with respect to an inflammatory video ahead of the communal riots in the area, in 2013. Over 60 people had died and around 40,000 were displaced in the violence. Although the closure report was filed four years ago, the court took cognisance and accepted the same on March 9.  

“After the closure report was filed, the court registered it and issued a notice to the complainant, Subodh Kumar Singh, but despite sending repeated notices, he did not present himself before the court,” remarked the court. The court further noted that the complainant died during riots in Bulandshahar, without being able to make an appearance in court. In 2018, Singh was attacked by a mob when he went to restore calm in an area after violence erupted over rumour of illegal cow slaughter. NDTV reported that Singh was hit with an axe and was shot at. His body was found inside his official police vehicle, abandoned in a field.

Som responded to the court’s acceptance of the closure report, “I have said it time and again, even when they sent me to jail, that an impartial enquiry will bring out the truth. This is a fraud case, both the public and God will teach them a lesson. This is what has happened. They even formed a SIT, it was the Samajwadi Party government that did it, and the same SIT filed a final or closure report in court that they found no proof against me.”

A case was registered against him and 200 others under sections 420 (cheating), 153a (promoting enmity between groups) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66 of the Information and Technology (IT) Act for circulating a clip linked to the murder of two youths, triggering communal tension in the district. It was later found that the said video was old and had been shot in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

In December 2020, the BJP-led UP government decided to withdraw cases against several BJP leaders included MLAs Sangeet Som, Suresh Rana, and Kapil Dev Aggarwal as well as right wing leader Sadhvi Prachi.

Background

In 2013, an Akhilesh Yadv-led Samajwadi party government was in power in the state. The Uttar Pradesh government had then registered a total of 510 cases relating to the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 were registered in five districts of the Meerut Zone against 6,869 accused. However, the Supreme Court was told in August 2021, that out of these 510 cases, the chargesheet was filed in 175 cases, final reports were filed in 165 and 170 were expunged.

Thereafter, 77 cases were withdrawn by the state government under Section 321 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The government orders did not give any reasons for the withdrawal of cases and merely stated that the administration, “after full consideration”, has taken a decision to withdraw the particular case.

In 2019, a Muzaffarnagar court awarded life imprisonment to seven persons in a case relating to the murder of Sachin and Gaurav. A Special Investigation Team , formed to investigate the Muzaffarnagar riots case, filed a closure report in Shahnawaz murder case, prompting his family to file a protest application in court.

Related:

Even in a BJP ‘wave’, UP voters blew out many flames of hate
Court adjourns hearing in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case
Muzaffarnagar riots: 12 acquitted in arson and robbery cases
UP govt withdraws cases against BJP leaders accused in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots
Muzaffarnagar riots: Case closed against BJP MLA accused of circulating inflammatory video

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A court in Muzaffarnagar has acquitted 12 persons charged in separate cases of robbery and arson during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, reported Indian Express. The acquittals have been made owing to lack of evidence or discrepancies in prosecution witness statements. Over 60 people dwere killed and around 40,000 were displaced during the violence.

District Government Counsel (Muzaffarnagar) Rajeev Sharma told IE that so far trials have been competed in 20 cases out of which only one case has ended in conviction while rest others have been acquitted. The one case of conviction was where two boys Sachin and Gaurav were murdered in Kawal village, which had triggered the riots in the first place.

The current acquittals are in relation to two cases, related to setting the house of a local Imam on fire and looting valuables from there. The Imam had shifted to Budhana after the riots broke out and he came to know later that a mob broke open his house and took away valuables and then set the house on fire. Thereafter a chargesheet was filed against the six accused – Krishna, Mintu, Narendra, Kala Ganja alias Vijay Malik, Virendra alias Bindu and Manoj, all residents of Kharad village but the court acquitted them for lack of evidence.

The other case was of dacoity and arson by setting many houses on fire at Tagpur village, Shamli but the accused – Umesh, Devendra, Pintu, Lalit Kumar, Vinod, Arvind – who were already out on bail were acquitted due to “differences” in statements of five prosecution witnesses, reported IE.

Last week a Muzaffarnagar court allowed withdrawal of cases against BJP leaders like Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Rana, MLA Sangit Som, former MP Bhartendu Singh and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi, who were booked for violating prohibitory orders, deterring public servants from discharging their duties, wrongful restraint and for making inciteful speeches that led to the riots. The application made by the Yogi Adityanath led UP government filed the application stating that it has been decided to not proceed with the cases against the BJP leaders in public interest.

In early March, a Muzaffarnagar court accepted the closure report filed by Special Investigation Team (SIT) with respect to BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s controversial statement with respect to an inflammatory video ahead of the communal riots in the area, in 2013.

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UP govt withdraws cases against BJP leaders accused in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots
Muzaffarnagar riots: Case closed against BJP MLA accused of circulating inflammatory video
Bhainsa communal riots triggered by Hindu Vahini: IGP Nagi Reddy
Delhi violence: Court questions credibility of police witness, grants bail to accused

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A court in Muzaffarnagar has allowed withdrawal of cases against BJP leaders like Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Rana, MLA Sangit Som, former MP Bhartendu Singh and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi, in connection with the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case, reported The Wire. Over 60 people died and around 40,000 were displaced in the violence. After the incident, arrests were made and the National Security Act (NSA) was also invoked. However, later on, the NSA advisory board had revoked the charges against them and bail was granted.

Sessions Judge, special court, Ram Sudh Singh allowed the application made by the government for withdrawal of the cases in which the accused were booked for violating prohibitory orders, deterring public servants from discharging their duties and wrongful restraint. The cases were registered after complaint that the accused participated in a mahapanchayat, organised by members of the Jat community to discuss the issue of two Hindu men having been lynched by a Muslim mob soon after they had killed a Muslim youth. The speeches, allegedly, incited violence which led to the Muzaffarnagar riots.

The application made by the Yogi Adityanath led UP government filed the application stating that it has been decided to not proceed with the cases against the BJP leaders in public interest and hence, the same should be allowed to be withdrawn by the court. The said decision was made in December 2020.

Earlier this month, a court in Muzaffarnagar accepted the closure report filed by Special Investigation Team (SIT) with respect to BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s controversial statement with respect to an inflammatory video ahead of the communal riots in the area, in 2013. 

When similar attempts were made by the BJP government in Karnataka to withdraw 21 cases involving communal violence, and violence in the course of cow protection, the Karnataka High Court had observed, “No Court is bound by such a decision taken to withdraw from the prosecution. Even if an application is made under Section 321 of Cr.P.C, the Courts are duty bound to assess whether prima facie case is made out or not and that the Court has power to reject the prayer.”

The court had also cited the Supreme Court precedent in SK Shukla and ors v. state of UP and ors, where the apex court had stated that “even if Government instructs to the Public Prosecutor to withdraw from the prosecution of a case, the latter after applying his mind to the facts of the case may either agree with the instructions and file a petition before the Court stating grounds of withdrawal or disagree therewith having found a good case for prosecution and refuse to file the withdrawal petition”. The court further stated that the prosecutor cannot act like a post box or act on the dictates of the government and has to act objectively as an officer of the court.

Related:

Muzaffarnagar riots: Case closed against BJP MLA accused of circulating inflammatory video

Bhainsa communal riots triggered by Hindu Vahini: IGP Nagi Reddy

Delhi violence: Court questions credibility of police witness, grants bail to accused

The post UP govt withdraws cases against BJP leaders accused in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A Muzaffarnagar court has accepted the closure report filed by Special Investigation Team (SIT) with respect to BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s controversial statement with respect to an inflammatory video ahead of the communal riots in the area, in 2013. Over 60 people died and around 40,000 were displaced in the violence. Although the closure report was filed four years ago, the court took cognisance and accepted the same on March 9.  

“After the closure report was filed, the court registered it and issued a notice to the complainant, Subodh Kumar Singh, but despite sending repeated notices, he did not present himself before the court,” remarked the court. The court further noted that the complainant died during riots in Bulandshahr, without being able to make an appearance in court. In 2018, Singh was attacked by a mob when he went to restore calm in an area after violence erupted over rumour of illegal cow slaughter. NDTV reported that Singh was hit with an axe and was shot at. His body was found inside his official police vehicle, abandoned in a field.

Som responded to the court’s acceptance of the closure report, “I have said it time and again, even when they sent me to jail, that an impartial enquiry will bring out the truth. This is a fraud case, both the public and God will teach them a lesson. This is what has happened. They even formed a SIT, it was the Samajwadi Party government that did it, and the same SIT filed a final or closure report in court that they found no proof against me.”

A case was registered against him and 200 others under sections 420 (cheating), 153a (promoting enmity between groups) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66 of the Information and Technology (IT) Act for circulating a clip linked to the murder of two youths, triggering communal tension in the district. It was later found that the said video was old and had been shot in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

In December 2020, the BJP-led UP government decided to withdraw cases against several BJP leaders included MLAs Sangeet Som, Suresh Rana, and Kapil Dev Aggarwal as well as right wing leader Sadhvi Prachi.

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Delhi Violence: Court grants bail to two accused of being present at crime scene

Delhi HC grants bail to Rashid, a rickshaw-puller accused in Delhi Riots

Revisiting Northeast Delhi a year after the February 2020 pogrom

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Traveling along the Muzaffarnagar countryside roads in 2013 with a group of concerned citizens soon after the horrific violence in the Muzaffarnagar area, we stopped by what looked like a makeshift refugee camp a certain distance from the road. Some elders of the community came up to us and invited us to a small tent they had set up by the roadside, evidently to interact with visitors. One of them tossed sugarcane sticks to each one of us to chew on as a sign of hospitality. This was sugarcane country after all. The sugarcane was full of sweet juice as we hungrily stripped off its layers with our teeth. 

But as we realized, the natural welcome and camaraderie, despite the trauma and displacement suffered by the community, was what had overwhelmed us; that was the sweetness that filled us. 

As court cases dragged on and the indictments of the accused grew into a tortured political affair, especially after the BJP-government came into power, we heard of how entire families (some of them were witnesses in the court cases) had moved residence from Muzaffarnagar and were untraceable. 

Cut to 2019 and Muzaffarnagar, along with several other parts of UP, is in the news again for violence against its Muslim residents. At least two fact-finding reports reveal the excesses of law-enforcement in dealing with the anti-CAA protests. As one member of one of the team’s stated, “We got reports that all private hospitals in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar were strictly instructed by the police not to admit people with bullet injuries. They were admitted only in government hospitals, where families of the victims were not allowed to meet them at all.”

Another fact-finding team member narrated  “an account of a postgraduate who ‘lies in a shattered room of her grandfather Hamid Hasan’s house in Jaswantpuri, Barafkhana in Muzaffarnagar.’

‘Her forehead is bandaged, covering a deep gash caused by a steel rod. In the next bed is her 14-year-old brother, his eyes still terrified, his body bruised. Both were beaten up by the police on 20 December 2019,’” the activist said.

This is certainly very disturbing since several people, including those from the majority community, reported that some of the protests, especially in the Meenakshi Chowk area of Muzaffarnagar, were not sampradayik (communal) in nature, as reported in the Hindi daily, Dainik Hindustan. Yet, it was the Muslims who were brutally targeted. 

One knows the story of polarisation in areas of western UP, including Muzaffarnagar, as reported by many journalists, including The Hindu’s Vidya Subrahmaniam. The story of how the seeds of communal distrust were sown over a period of time between the Jats and the Muslims of the region, especially right after the 2013 riots and before the 2014 general elections. How, one by one, all of the accused in the rioting were released. How, even several years after the riots, the riot-affected, the Muslims, were left to languish in the few relief camps that remained. 

For the Mulsims of Muzaffarnagar and elsewhere in UP, especially western UP, so traumatised and demonised by the 2013 violence, the police also acting as a communal, marauding force will surely shake them to the core. As one of the victims of the police rampage in Muzaffarnagar told the fact-finding team, “every assailant was a policeman, all in uniform.”

The UP police has been communal from a very long time, specially the PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary), which was one of the forces present in Muzaffarnagar. Its repressive role during the Uttarakhand statehood struggle (Rampur Tiraha) is well known as is its role in the Hashimpura massacre.

However, the police act on orders, or they are supposed to. Trying to review the situation across UP, one cannot help but be struck by the repressive nature of the UP police in quelling the protests, often by violent means, and with loss of life and limb for Muslims. It would be difficult not to connect their actions with the mandate and mentality for “revenge,” as expressed by UP’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. This revenge took many forms – the firing of live bullets and the terrorising of the Muslims was just one tactic. Actual damage costs being sent to supposed “rioters,” and the use of “naming and shaming,” of those it deemed as provocateurs – of course, Muslims – were other shameful techniques. 

The UP state administration’s actions, similarly, cannot be seen as unconnected to the consensus and attitude of the ruling BJP of the nature of the protests. The so-called leader of the nation, prime minister Narendra Modi spoke about the dress of the protesters as revealing their identity, making a barely-concealed and despicable accusation against Muslims. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her clueless manner blurted that jihadists and the Maoists were behind the protests. 

If one observes such recklessness and crudity of discourse from its political leaders, how can one expect that not to translate to the language of bigotry, intimidation and violation against those they casually tar, the Muslims? 

The people who offered us sugarcanes had little left from the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots which had made them homeless. Yet, they knew the sugar-sweet language of brotherhood and common humanity. They instinctively shared what little they had left. Their generosity of spirit and their fortitude could rise above the injustice meted out to them for no fault of theirs. The Muslims of Muzaffarnagar have seen many hard knocks over the years. But like the hardy cane, till now they seem to have withstood all that has come their way. One can only hope that their sweetness never runs dry.

The author is a student of social movements. He has been involved in various struggles of the marginalized people, including Dalit and Adivasi movements and the Palestinian struggle.

The post Muzaffarnagar Ek Baar Phir – Muzaffarnagar Once Again appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sangeet Som (L) and Yogi Adityantah both are known for their Anti Muslims politics in the region
 

Ever since Dhongi Adityanath became the UP CM, the law and order has gone for a six. The Rajput CM has made a Rajput IPS the state DGP: OP Singh. And a Rajput MLA Kuldeep Sengar has gone berserk. The Unnao rape case has made international headlines. A Rajput MLA raped a girl and got her father murdered. Then an “accident” took place and the victim’s aunt was killed. But the Rajput CM and his pet Rajput DGP looked the other way. The girl is still on a ventilator. The Supreme Court of India finally intervened. The girl was given compensation, the CRPF protection and the trial was shifted to Delhi.

The terror unleashed by Rajput goons in UP is unparalleled. In UP towns, big and small, Rajput hoodlums gather under the pretext of celebrating Maharana Pratap Jayanti. They all are armed to the teeth. Then they raid Dalit homes and rape Dalit girls at gun point. Sometimes, they damage Ambedkar statues claiming that Ambedkar points his finger towards Rajput ladies! When the Bhim Army retaliated in Saharanpur, the Rajput hooliganism caught national attention.

The biggest mafia don in UP is a Rajput: Raja Bhaiyya. The MLA from Kunda is known as Kunda Ka Gunda. His name figured in the murder of Zia ul Haq, a senior police officer. But the CBI, called a “caged parrot” by the Supreme Court, gave him a clean chit. Mayawati invoked the dreaded POTA against Raja Bhaiyya but with Dhongi Adityanath at the helm, Raja Bhaiyya is a monster unchained. The Chief Minister is busy changing names. From Prayagraj to Allahabad, from Mughalsarai to Deen Dayal Nagar. Adityanath also wants to ban the Hindi word “gorakh-dhandha” (a racket) because the word insults Guru Gorakhnath! And Raja Bhaiyya is left untouched in his palace.

The UP Govt has put Muslims on its hit list. Kafeel Khan, Azam Khan etc. Dr Kafeel Khan was made a scapegoat after 70 kids died in a Gorakhpur hospital when the oxygen supply was cut off. And Azam Khan’s Jauhar University is raided day in and day out. Target Kafeel Khan and Azam Khan because they are Muslims. Don’t touch Kuldeep Sengar and Raja Bhaiyya because they are Muslims. Dhongi Adityanath’s policy is clear in UP, now called Ulta Pradesh by many.

As far as the withdrawal of riots cases against Sangeet Som is concerned, I hope that the Govt orders will be challenged at the Allahabad High Court. When the forest brigand Veerappan kidnapped Kannada super star Dr Rajkumar, the state Govt decided that cases would be dropped against Veerappan’s accomplices. But a police martyr’s father challenged the Govt move in the Supreme Court and the apex court ruled against the withdrawal of cases. I hope that families of Muzaffarnagar riots victims will oppose the withdrawal of cases against Sangeet Som. And Allahabad High Court will call Dhongi Adityanath’s bluff. Ulta Pradesh has suffered enough.

(Mr. Amitabh Kumar Das is a 1994 Batch IPS Officer. His views expressed here are personal.)

First published on http://www.themorningchronicle.in/

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The accused had stabbed to death Shahnawaz, a youth from Kawal village in Muzaffarnagar on August 27, 2013. The stabbing led to widespread riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts in which more than 60 people were reported dead and approximately 50,000 rendered homeless. The riots were described as one of the worst in Uttar Pradesh in recent history. It was reported then that seven people had entered Shahnawaz’s home, brought him out and had repeatedly stabbed him with swords and knives. Later, two accused, Sachin and Gaurav were reportedly lynched by a mob and had died. Though the incident of stabbing took place because the accused alleged that Shahnawaz had harassed a girl, the girl in question had denied any such accusations. The case had been ongoing since 2014. Riding on the anger in Jat community, the BJP had won the Lok Sabha polls held soon after the incident. Fact findings reports by various independent civil society members had found out that the riots were preceded by provocative and instigating speeches by BJP MLAs.

The Chief Judicial magistrate Rakesh Gautam ordered to attach the property of accused they failed to surrender before it.

The accused have been identified as Ravinder, Prehlad, Bishan Singh, Tendu, Devender and Jitender.

The next hearing is on June 7.
 

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Image Courtesy: catchnews

Muzaffarnagar: A man, who witnessed the killing of his two brothers during the Muzaffarnagar riots, was shot dead in Khatoli, police said on Wednesday.
 
The communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas in August and September 2013 had claimed more than 60 lives while over 40,000 people were displaced.
 
Ashbab (also called Ashfaq in other news reports,) a witness in the case, was shot dead in Khatoli on Monday, Circle Officer Ashish Kumar said.
 
Eight people are facing trial for allegedly killing Ashfaq’s brothers and the next hearing was scheduled for March 25.
 
Ashfaq was delivering milk to a shop when two armed assailants on a bike shot him multiple times. Police are examining CCTV footage to identify the shooter, Kumar said.
 
He had witnessed the killing of his two brothers — Nawab and Shahid — during the riots and earlier, had also been threatened with dire consequences if he did not withdraw his case, police said.
 
Reportedly, Ashfaq had also sought police protection following the threats.
 
In a report by The Indian Express, according to Jitendra Tyagi, the government counsel, his family had not sought protection. “Due to the vacation of the court after announcing the quantum of punishment for the seven accused of allegedly causing the riots, the trial, in this case, had not begun. Ashbab had given a preliminary statement in which he named six people from Mathedi village,” he said.
 
Ashbab’s family alleged the accused had threatened him after he named them. “They are influential people and had come to our house, claiming that they will have their ‘own sense of justice’. We were scared but we had to pursue the case. And he was killed only a few days later. We left our own village, Khedi, since things were never the same after the violence. The accused took two brothers away from us. And now my husband. We are shattered,” said Meena, Ashbab’s wife, in the report.
 
Meena has now sought protection for her three sons. “Two police officers have been sitting outside our house. They should have come the day he went to court. We have three sons between the ages of three and 10. I fear the men will come for them too,” she said.
 
Ashbab’s father Akhtar, 65, in a report by Times of India, said that the riots are still on for him. “We used to live in Kheri Tagaan village near Mansoorpur town of Muzaffarnagar. We fled after the riots, leaving everything behind. During the riots, two of my sons — Nawab and Shaheed — were murdered and Ashbab was a witness to that. He was under constant threat,” he said.
 
After a brief pause, Akhtar added, “For me, the riots are still on. When asked about the motive, he said, “We have no enmity with anyone. We suspect that this murder is connected to the ongoing trial. They killed my two sons and wanted to compromise. Ashbab never agreed to it,” he said in the report.
 
Police have already filed a chargesheet in the case. However, all the six accused were freed on bail during the course of the trial.
 

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