The post Superintendent of Police, Palghar asked to go on ‘forced leave’ by Maharashtra govt appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It is no secret that the Palghar lynching case, where two religious leaders of the majority community who were on their way to Gujarat were allegedly lynched in the tribal dominated region of Palghar near Mumbai, had become deeply communal over the last few days.

On April 16, the two ‘saadhus’ and their driver were on their way to Silvassa to attend a funeral. When they were crossing Palghar district, tribals allegedly surrounded their vehicle in Gadhchinchale and the men were lynched. It is said that the attackers suspected the men of being thieves. When police tried to rescue the men, even they were injured seriously.

The victims, identified as two sadhus of the Juna Akhara, Chike Maharaj Kalpavruksh Giri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) were seen wearing saffron dhotis and kurtas in the video of the incident that was being circulated. They were identified as being from an ashram in Kandivali who were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral. The third victim was Nilesh Telgade (30), the driver of the van they were travelling in.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had to step in to diffuse tension by reassuring that a thorough investigation would take place.

The Palghar incident has been acted upon. The police has arrested all those accused who attacked the 2 sadhus, 1 driver and the police personnel, on the day of the crime itself.

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) April 19, 2020

Now, after the matter got a strong communal hue because of rumour mills and even a section of the media, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh released on Twitter names of all the 101 accused arrested in the case, pointing out that not even one of them was Muslim.

The list of the 101 arrested in the #Palghar incident. Especially sharing for those who were trying to make this a communal issue.. pic.twitter.com/pfZnuMCd3x

— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 22, 2020

In a Facebook live video from his official page, Deshmukh also said, “The matter is now being investigated by the CID. The police took 101 people into custody within eight days of this tragic incident. Not even one of them is Muslim. People mis-heard ‘oye-bas’ as ‘Shoaib’ and gave the rumours a communal colour.”

He added, “This is not the time to play politics, but unite together to fight the Coronavirus. Instead, some people are having ‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ and that is unfortunate.” The home minister used a pop-culture reference to an old television show where the protagonist just imagined in his dreams, things that didn’t actually happen. The complete video may be viewed here:

Deshmukh had also urged people in a previous tweet to not fall for rumours, “Palghar mob lynching is a grotesque incident which happened due to rumours on social media about child kidnappers & thieves prowling in the area. A high level inquiry is going on & meanwhile people are requested not to fall for rumours & verify the facts from trusted sources.”

Palghar mob lynching is a grotesque incident which happened due to rumours on social media about child kidnappers & thieves prowling in the area. A high level inquiry is going on & meanwhile people are requested not to fall for rumours & verify the facts from trusted sources.

— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 22, 2020

Related:

Palghar lynch mob accuses three men of theft, kills them
101 adults arrested, 9 minors detained in Palghar lynching case

The post Palghar lynching case: Maha Home Minister releases list of accused, says none are Muslim appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Palghar police have nabbed 110 people in the matter of the lynching by villagers of three men that took place there on Thursday night. This includes 101 adults who have been remanded to custody and 9 minors who have also been detained in connection with the case. Anil Deshmukh, the Home Minister of Maharashtra warned against communalising the incident and said that an enquiry had been ordered in the matter, reported The Indian Express.

In the case of mob lynching, till now 110 accused ( of local tribal community) have been arrested out of which 9 are juvenile.
Investigation is handed over to CID Crime.
IG Konkan is directed to enquire into police action.
Two police officers are suspended.

— Palghar Police (@Palghar_Police) April 20, 2020

Gaurav Singh, Police Superintendent of Palghar said that the investigation was currently focused on identifying the sources of rumours that spread in the tribal village of Gadchinchle where the incident took place after the villagers allegedly mistook the victims to be thieves and lynched them.

“An inquiry will soon be conducted to ascertain what measures were taken by policemen who reached the scene and had taken the victims into a police van,” he said.

The victims, identified as two sadhus of the Juna Akhara, Chike Maharaj Kalpavruksh Giri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) were seen wearing faded saffron dhotis and kurtas in the video of the incident that was being circulated. They were identified as being from an ashram in Kandivali who were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral. The third victim was Nilesh Telgade (30), the driver of the van they were travelling in.

The 101 adults arrested are in 12-day police custody and the 9 minors have been sent to an observation home.

In his tweet, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said that the police fired two rounds and yet the crowd did not come under control. He said that there were some people who were trying to take advantage of the incident by giving it a political twist through a communal angle.

पालघर की घटना बहुत दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है। मामले में 101 लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है और उच्च स्तरीय जांच जारी है। जब पूरा देश कोरोना से लड़ रहा है, कुछ लोग इस घटना को गलत मोड़ देने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं, जो सही नहीं है।#LawAndOrderAboveAll#WarAgainstVirus pic.twitter.com/PVqywq0XR0

— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 20, 2020

Twitter had gone abuzz with hashtags like #JusticeforHinduSadhus and several right-wing leaders expressed their displeasure over the incident. Some Hindutva associated handles then tried to instigate a communal angle prompting Deshmukh to tweet that the attackers and the victims belonged to the same religion.

हमला करनेवाले और जिनकी इस हमले में जान गई – दोनों अलग धर्मीय नहीं हैं।
बेवजह समाज में/ समाज माध्यमों द्वारा धार्मिक विवाद निर्माण करनेवालों पर पुलिस और @MahaCyber1 को कठोर कार्रवाई करने के आदेश दिए गए हैं।#LawAndOrderAboveAll

— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 19, 2020

In this matter, the Inspector General of Police (Konkan Range) also suspended two policemen, Kasa Police station’s Assistant police inspector Anandrao Kale and sub-inspector Sudhir Katare, for alleged dereliction of duty. CM Uddhav Thackeray said, “The Palghar incident has been acted upon. The police have arrested all those accused who attacked the 2 sadhus, 1 driver and the police personnel, on the day of the crime itself.” Uddhav Thackeray added, “Nobody guilty in this heinous crime and shameful act will be spared and they will be brought to justice in the strongest way possible.”
 

Related:

Palghar lynch mob accuses three men of theft, kills them

Over 4.3 lakh migrants from Assam stranded across India

The post 101 adults arrested, 9 minors detained in Palghar lynching case appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Three men from Kandivali in Mumbai, who were driving to a funeral in Surat, were lynched by a group of villagers in Gadhchinchle, in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, on Thursday night. The mob, which allegedly suspected the three men to be thieves, also attacked police that reached the spot, reported The Indian Express.

Palghar District Collector Kailas Shinde said, “As per preliminary information, one Sushil Giri Maharaj, who stays in an ashram in Kandivali, and two others, Jayesh and Naresh Yelgade, were travelling in a van which they had rented to travel to Surat to attend a funeral.”

However, in another report by the Mumbai Mirror, API Anandrao Kale told that publication that the men were travelling from Nashik. He said, “The men were travelling from an Eco van to Nashik. The vehicle was on the Dabhadi-Khanvel Road when a mob of around 200 tribals stopped them.”

They were stopped by a sentry of the forest department near Gadhchinchle village after they had already covered a distance of 120 km. The villagers, mostly tribals, over the past few days, had formed vigilante groups over rumours that organ-harvesting gangs, child lifters and thieves were operating in the areas.

It was reported that around 10 pm on Wednesday night, while the three men in the car were having a conversation with the two forest guards, a few men, said to be part of the vigilante group, walked up to the car and got into an argument. The argument then intensified and the mob beat up the three, post which the forest guards called the Kasa police station.

Though a team of four policemen reached the spot, the mob had already overturned the car in which the three were travelling and even threatened the policemen. The mob also pelted stones, logs and axes at the overturned car and a video captured by bystanders showed men cowering in the vehicle.

Another police team of 12 also reached the site and got the men out of the car and put them in two separate vehicles, said Shinde. “However, the mob of around 400 people attacked our vehicles. Some of our policemen were injured as well,” he added.

However, the police’s allegedly passive role in the matter is being questioned after it was reported that the mob managed to get the three men out of the police vehicles and lynch them. The overpowered police party then called for backup, after which a larger police force managed to disperse the crowd and recovered the three bodies.

The police personnel were not seriously injured in the incident, it was said. Reacting to this allegation, Shinde said that he would investigate the decisions taken by the officers and their role during the incident.  

Palghar District Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh said that 110 villagers from Gadchinchle had been booked under charges of murder and attempt to murder, unlawful assembly and disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant.

Earlier too, a doctor who was conducting a medical camp in Saarni village in Kasa was also attacked by the tribals from a village in Palghar, after he was mistaken for a thief.

The postmortem of the three men is being conducted at Talasari at the Kasa Hospital and the police is also trying to investigate how the men reached there all the way from Kandivali despite the lockdown.

Related:

After news channel announces death of Delhi RWA President, he tweets saying he’s alive
Could ten new detention camps come up in Assam?

The post Palghar lynch mob accuses three men of theft, kills them appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It’s official. Citing official sources, the DNA newspaper reports that over 600 tribal kids have died in Maharashtra due to acute malnutrition in the past four months.

Here are some more shocking details:

In Palghar district, barely 100 kms away from Mumbai where some of the richest people in the world reside, 126 tribal kids died due to acute malnutrition between April and July this year. All of them were less than a year old.

Unless urgent remedial measures are taken, many more lives are at risk in the next few months. According to data compiled in August by officials attached to the integrated child development scheme, 457 kids have been diagnosed as ‘severely acute malnourished’ (SAM), while another 3,159 have been listed as ‘moderately acute malnourished’ (MAM).

In Mokhada taluka of Palghar district, nearly 28% of the children were found to be severely underweight during health camps.

Maharashtra’s tribal minister Vishnu Sawara who hails from the same district is also Palghar’s ‘guardian minister’. Enraged at the government’s apathy despite the large-scale deaths, adivasis boycotted the minister when he visited hamlets on Friday.

Evidently, the Maharashtra government’s much-flaunted Amrut Ahaar Yojna to tackle the problem of malnutrition among adivasis has yet to make its mark.

The full DNA report may be accessed here.
 

The post Over 600 Tribal Kids Die of Malnutrition in Maharashtra in 4 Months appeared first on SabrangIndia.