The Historical Frame: Contesting sacred space

Sambhal is a Muslim-majority town (approx. 77.6%) in western Uttar Pradesh with historical and architectural significance. Sambhal is home to the Shahi Jama Masjid, one of only two surviving mosques built during Babur’s reign, with the other being in Panipat. The mosque stands as a rare surviving monument from the early Mughal era.  The town also holds significance in Hindu belief as the prophesied birthplace of Lord Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu. While the mosque is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), right-wing groups claim it was built on the ruins of the “Hari Har Mandir”, allegedly demolished during the Mughal era. These claims rely on discredited 19th-century colonial accounts, particularly by ACL Carlleyle, whose report was rejected by the then ASI Director General, Sir Alexander Cunningham.

This confluence of history and myth set the stage for conflict, especially in a town that was once a stronghold of anti-CAA protests and continues to elect Muslim representatives like MP Zia Ur Rahman Barq, whose family has long resisted the majoritarian politics of the ruling party. Over the past few years, this mythical narrative has been aggressively revived. Mahant Rishiraj Giri, a petitioner in the present dispute, has said he wanted to file a case even before the Babri suit. The town has already been declared a potential “Kalki Dham” by BJP leaders, and PM Modi laid the foundation of a Kalki temple in 2024.

November 2024: A timeline of escalation

• November 19: A civil suit by eight petitioners is filed alleging the mosque was once a temple. Within hours, by 3:30 pm, the Sambhal civil court grants permission for a survey, waives the notice requirement, and appoints an advocate commissioner. By 7:00 pm, the survey was underway. The mosque committee was neither notified nor given a chance to be heard.
• November 22: Friday prayers occur under heavy police presence.
• November 23: Authorities begin preventive detention under Section 107/116 of the CrPC; 34 persons, including the father of MP Zia Ur Rahman Barq, are bound by peace bonds up to ₹10 lakh.
• November 24: A second survey is conducted without fresh court orders. Police are accompanied by PAC, RAF, and officials from multiple districts. This time, a video went viral showing members of the survey team chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, and a rumour spread that the mosque was being excavated. The ablution tank was drained, and water was seen seeping from the structure, fueling panic. A protest breaks out. Police respond with tear gas, lathis, and gunfire. Five Muslim men are killed.

Police Firing: Lethal force, denials, and eyewitnesses

According to Masjid Committee President Zafar Ali, the protest on November 24 was peaceful until CO Anuj Chaudhary responded to concerns with verbal abuse and an unprovoked lathi charge. he police, led by CO Anuj Chaudhary, responded with verbal abuse, a lathi charge, and then tear gas. As people began to flee, the police escalated, firing live ammunition.Tear gas followed, and then live rounds were fired. The crowd began to disperse, but police pursued them into lanes and homes. Eyewitnesses reported police using slurs, destroying property, and shooting indiscriminately.

Five Muslim men were killed, including a minor:

• Kamran (17), shot in the chest.
• Nasir, Abbas, Basim, and Nabeel—each with fatal injuries, many allegedly from police bullets.

Videos circulated showing police shouting “Goli chalao” (fire the gun), pelting stones, and dragging minors. Authorities denied using firearms but later admitted to firing “warning shots”. Zafar Ali, who openly accused the police, was detained and later arrested under serious charges.

Authorities claimed the protesters were armed and that police only fired in retaliation. Yet, no police injuries or gunshot wounds from “desi kattas” were documented. The families dispute the claim of crossfire and assert that their relatives were unarmed and shot from the front. (Detailed report may be read here.)

Suppression of victim families and testimonies

The families of the deceased report:

• Denial of postmortem reports.
• Being forced to sign blank papers or coerced to remove references to police in their complaints.
• Rapid burials under police pressure.
• Heavy surveillance at their homes, making it difficult to speak to outsiders or pursue legal recourse.

For example, Kamran’s family was called to identify his body, made to give thumbprints on documents, and forced to bury him amid a police convoy. Nasir’s mother said she saw two bullet wounds but received no documentation. Basim, before dying, told his family he was shot by police. The police allegedly forced them to rewrite their complaint, removing the word “police”.

The Legal Offences: Violating due process and the law

As per the report, the lower court’s order violated:

• Section 80(2) CPC: No genuine urgency justified bypassing notice to the mosque committee.
• Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991: This law bars alteration of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on 15 August 1947.
• Article 26 of the Constitution: Grants religious denominations autonomy over their places of worship.

Despite these clear violations, the Allahabad High Court later upheld the survey, and referred to the mosque as an “alleged masjid” even in a whitewashing plea. The Supreme Court has stayed proceedings but failed to undo the communal spectacle that the survey facilitated. (Detailed report may be read here.)

Myth-Making: Temple discoveries and state rituals

Shortly after the violence, local officials claimed to “discover” a hidden temple near the Shahi Jama Masjid. The structure was cleaned and declared sacred. District officials performed worship ceremonies, and a priest claimed the idol “smiled”. This triggered a wave of temple “discoveries”, 24 sites were surveyed by the ASI within weeks. Carbon dating was announced, and claims emerged that 56 temples and 19 sacred wells had been hidden by Muslims.

The government launched a spiritual tourism project titled “Kalki Nagri.” Plans were made to develop 87 religious sites and a 24-Kosi Parikrama Marg. Authorities, priests, and right-wing figures declared temple idols had been “discovered” at sites like wells and drains. In some cases, idols were immediately installed and worshipped. The state began institutionalising the narrative that Sambhal is a Hindu holy site under siege.

Muslim residents refuted these claims, saying these were existing sites in disrepair. As per the report, a local lawyer remarked: “They are digging up new temples every day. We fear they will come into our homes and dig one up there too.”

A new police chowki named “Satyavrat Chowki” was built outside the Shahi Jama Masjid using stones from the protest site. The chowki was inaugurated with Hindu rituals, including a havan and shlokas etched on its walls

Administrative Reprisals: Raids, Demolitions, and Surveillance

In the weeks after the firing:

• Mass detentions occurred. 83 people, including minors and Masjid Committee President Zafar Ali, were jailed. Over 160 bail pleas have been rejected. (Detailed report may be read here.)
• Zafar Ali, who publicly stated he saw police firing, was arrested on March 23, just before he was scheduled to testify before a judicial commission. He had not been named in any FIR prior. His arrest included disproportionate BNS charges, including those carrying life imprisonment or death penalty. Dormant cases from 2018 and 2021 were suddenly revived against him.
• Police launched electricity theft drives: 1440 cases were registered, mostly against Muslims, including 16 mosques and two madrasas. A total fine of ₹11 crores was imposed. MP Barq alone was fined ₹1.91 crores (Detailed report may be read here.)
• Encroachment demolitions began in Muslim areas. Some residents pre-emptively dismantled their own homes.
• The Janeta Sharif Dargah, previously a site of interfaith worship, was marked for probe, its clinic shut down, and its fair cancelled.
• Loudspeakers were removed from mosques.
• Police built a new outpost, engraved with Hindu shlokas, using stones allegedly “thrown by Muslims” on November 24.
• The administration questioned the Dargah’s Waqf status, and its land was bulldozed. This marked the first major Waqf land crackdown since the 2024 Amendment Act. (Detailed report may be read here.)

Surveillance and silencing of victims

Families of victims report constant police surveillance. The report recorded one mother stating that “They sit outside our house 24×7. You are lucky you met us while they were away.”

Many families, like those of Nasir, Abbas, and Nadia, reported being beaten, having property vandalised, and facing threats if they spoke to media or filed complaints. The DVRs of CCTV footage were seized. Police broke into homes and slapped women, dragged children, and refused to register complaints.

Constructing a new narrative: From victims to villains

The state and media spun a narrative portraying Muslims as aggressors:

• UP CM Adityanath claimed Muslims had turned mosques into “mini power stations”.
• He invoked a fabricated figure of 168 Hindu deaths in the 1978 Sambhal riots to justify crackdowns.
• Posters branding Muslims as “pathharbaaz” (stone pelters) were plastered across the town.
• The Kalki Dev Tirth Samiti was instituted to develop “religious tourism”, with 87 sites being prepared for Hindu pilgrimage.

The result is a manufactured transformation of Sambhal from a Muslim-majority town to a contested Hindu religious centre, without public debate, evidence, or consent.

Legal recommendations and civil society appeals

The report calls for:

• Independent investigation into police killings and torture.
• Immediate release of detainees without proper FIRs.
• Enforcement of the Places of Worship Act in both letter and spirit.
• Rebuilding trust through compensation and an end to bulldozer demolitions.
• Holding judicial commissions accountable for bias.
• A nationwide civil society campaign to reject communal myth-making and support Sambhal’s residents.

Conclusion: Sambhal as a “Template”

The report ends on a haunting note:

“Ultimately, the situation in Sambhal is not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern of narrative construction that seeks to redefine the Muslim community as a problem to be managed rather than a population deserving of rights and protection. As such, it calls for a reevaluation of how narratives are formed, disseminated, and challenged in the pursuit of justice and communal harmony, alongside a robust resistance to the forces that seek to communalize and polarize Indian society.”

Sambhal, the authors of the report warn, is not an aberration, rather it is a preview. If unchallenged, the Sambhal model will become the blueprint for future communal engineering. The report is a call to document, resist, and refuse—to protect the republic from turning against its own.

The complete report may be read here.

Related:

Sambhal Custodial Death: A systemic failure exposed

Supreme Court blocks execution of Nagar Palika’s order regarding well near Sambhal Mosque, prioritises peace and harmony

Uttar Pradesh’s new tactics for harassment: Electricity theft charges, strategic revival of temple, opening up of 1978 Sambhal communal riots cases

Sambhal Mosque, Ajmer Dargah: how deep do we plunge into the abyss?

Sambhal Violence: State crackdown intensifies, thousands accused, and allegations of police misconduct ignite a political and communal crisis in Uttar Pradesh

Sambhal’s darkest hour: 5 dead, scores injured in Mosque survey violence as UP police face allegations of excessive force

The post “Sambhal: Anatomy of an Engineered Crisis”- How a peaceful Muslim-majority town was turned into a site of manufactured communal conflict appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sambhal has long been a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, whose Muslim candidate Shafiqur Rahman Barq was a five-time MP in the constituency. His grandson, now fighting on the same seat after his death, Zia ur Rahman Barq was also witnessed on camera raising allegations against the police of preventing Muslims residents of Sambhal from exercising their rights to vote.

In #UttarPradesh‘s #Sambhal, #Muslim voters said that the #UPPolice lathi-charged to drive them from the polling booth. Their voter recipient was also snatched.#LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/d9gbvQAnxK

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) May 7, 2024

In another video, locals have claimed that the police snatched their ‘parchi’, slips, and also used the lathi on them as they went to vote. One youth also stated that he was hit on his face, very close to his eye.

In UP’s Sambhal, Muslim voters said that the police lathi-charged to drive them from the polling booth. Their voter recipient was also snatched.pic.twitter.com/qndEqmhc0W

— Waquar Hasan (@WaqarHasan1231) May 7, 2024

The Samajwadi Party’s official X account also posted about Muslim voters being denied the right to vote. Muslims constitute over 77% of Sambhal’s population. As per the Indian government’s census of 2011, 77.67 % of city population follow Islam. Following this, the second largest community is the Jatav community at 2.30 lakhs, Yadavs at 1.40 lakh, Sainis at 1.15 lakh, and 1.7 lakh of the population consists of upper castes.

Meanwhile, the Sambhal police have alleged that they have uncovered a racket of 50 people trying to vote on the basis of fake voter identity cards.

जनपद सम्भल में 50 से अधिक संदिग्ध व्यक्तियों को फर्जी मतदान का प्रयास करते हुए सम्भल पुलिस द्वारा पकड़ा गया है। जिसकी जांच कर आवश्यक विधिक कार्रवाई की जाएगी। मतदान शांतिपूर्वक व सुचारू रूप से चल रहा है।#UPPolice pic.twitter.com/ZOQ6SuuK0t

— SAMBHAL POLICE (@sambhalpolice) May 7, 2024

Local news outlet UPTak has stated that at a booth in Sambhal, BJP candidate Parmeshwar Lal Saini caught a Muslim person and accused him of casting fake vote for the BJP candidate. There was a heated argument between the BJP candidate and the person who had come to cast fake votes for the BJP supporters. Parmeshwar Lal Saini is contesting once again for the seat in Sambhal, he had lost last time to SP’s Shafiqur Rahman Barq.

Interestingly, the Deccan Herald reported on May 2nd, that the Lucknow police had detained a BJP official for making a video advising people in Sambhal to make a ruckus at the booths in Sambhal. The BJP leader, Bhuvanesh Varshneya, had reportedly told party workers to make a ruckus outside the ballot booth when they saw a large number of women to prevent them from voting. He was also heard telling the party workers to ‘bribe’ the police, “Give the cops between Rs 100 to Rs 500 for refreshment. Keep an eye on the turnout in opposition dominated booths.” The report also claimed that the police detained Varshney, however, the video had gone viral in the area.

Related:

Displaced and denied the right to fish, Muslim fishermen in Gujarat now prevented from voting

Assam sees final day of polling after break-neck campaign unleashed by parties

Demand Independence, ECI should publish figures of each round of polls: Congress President Kharge

RSS & BJP have already caused enough damage: In conversation with path-breaking novelist Devanur Mahadevan

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Addressing a rally in Sambhal district, Yogi said, “What can be said about SP… It fielded a candidate in Sambhal who claims himself to be the descendant of Babar, hesitates in garlanding the statue of Baba Saheb and does not recite Vande Matram.” He further added, “Samajwadi Party mein aise aise pratyashi bana diye jate hain… ek baar sansad mein baitha tha… sanjog se sambhal se prayashi wohi SP ke vartaman pratyashi hain… Maine unse pucha, tumhare purvaj kahan se hain, yeh sajjan bol pare hum Babar ki aulad hain… (I had once asked a member in the Parliament, who is also the present SP candidate from here (Sambhal), about his ancestors and he replied ‘I am Babar’s descendent).”

He didn’t end his jibe there. Instead, he asked the crowd whether they wanted to hand over the country to those who are anti-development, anti-youth, traitors, terrorists and opposed to the believers of Lord Hanuman. He said, “Ek taraf Bharat ki astha ko samman dene wale Modi ji hain… Lekin dusari taraf apne ko Babur ki aulad kehne wala vyakti gathbandan ka pratyashi banke ata hai. Aap kya desh drohi ke hanthon mein desh ki bagdor saupna chahte hain…. atankwadion ke hath mein desh ki bagdor saupenge… apne ko Babur ki aulad kehne wale ko… Bajrang Bali ke virodhiyon ke hath mein desh ki bagdoor saupenge?” On one hand, there is Modi ji, who has brought respect to the country. Would you like to hand over the reins of the country to the traitors or terrorists or those who call themselves Babur’s successors and oppose Bajrang Bali ?
Paradoxically, he told the crowd that he has never asked for votes in the name of religion and caste. “Remember the Congress government when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims had the first right over the country’s resources while Mayawati in a rally in Saharanpur asked Muslims to unite and vote for the BSP-SP alliance… I have never sought votes in the name of caste or religion,” he said.

Claiming that his government has worked for the development of all and yet subtly inserting communal undertones, he said, “Earlier governments used to discriminate… funds were given to graveyards and not to cremation grounds… electricity was supplied to Deva Sharif and not to Mahadeva ..this was discrimination.”

At another gathering in Hardoi, he attacked Azam Khan for his ‘underwear’ jibe against BJP candidate from Rampur, Jaya Prada.

Earlier during the campaign, he had made inciteful comments like “if the Congress, SP and BSP have faith in Ali, then we have faith in Bajrang Bali” and called the Indian Union Muslim League a ‘Green Virus’. For these statements he was handed a 72 hour ban by the Election Commission of India.

Sambhal district will go to polls in the third phase scheduled on April 23.
 

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Moradabad Dalits: Symbolic farewell to Dalits.  

Earlier it was Moradabad and Sambhal. Now, over 2,000 Dalits from Aligarh alleging police inaction in the face of continuing upper caste Thakur atrocities against them have threatened to embrace Islam. In some other instances, Dalits have already converted to Buddhism or declared their intent of doing so in the near future.

The threat to turn to Islam was triggered by a clash last Tuesday over construction of a Bhai Baba temple near an abandoned well which was opposed by local Thakurs, according to a report in the Times of India.

On Sunday they immersed pictures of Hindu gods in a rivulet close to their village in a symbolic goodbye to Hinduism.

Bunti Singh, a Dalit leader and resident of Keshopur Jhopri village told the Times of India they had decided to convert to Islam in protest against “discrimination and harassment: by upper caste Hindus.

Also read: Attacks on Dalits in UP: Valmikis say 'farewell' to Hinduism, threaten to convert to Islam.
                   Threat to convert to Islam helps: Barbers in Sambhal give haircuts to Dalits under police protection.
                  
Alleging political opportunism, Singh said that the upper castes treated Dalits as fellow Hindus at the time of elections but after that reverted to treating them shabbily.

 “They don’t consider us as part of Hindu community and use derogatory language against us. It is better for Dalits to convert,” said Bunty.  

He alleged that since the coming to power of Yogi Adityanath as UP’s chief minister, the upper castes have started flexing their muscles. “Atrocities against Dalits have been on the rise, with the active participation of rightwing Hindu organizations”.

Another Dalit from the village, Jaiveer Singh alleged that the Thakurs have dug up drains from their toilets towards the spot where the Dalits were planning to install their idol with obvious intent.

While admitting that some Thakurs had done so, Devendra Chauhan husband of the village Pradhan, told the Times of India that the matter had since been resolved and that some local Dalit leaders were creating disharmony for their own vested interests.

Aligarh’s senior superintendent of police, Rajesh Pandey told the Times of India that adequate police force has been deputed and attempts were afoot to resolve the issue amicably.   
 

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Yesterday Sabrang India had reported that for the past 70 years, under the diktat of the Thakurs and Brahmins, the Valmikis (Dalits) from Fatehpur Shamsoi village in UP’s Sambhal district had been refused a haircut or a shave by the local barbers. The dominant upper castes believed that use of the same scissors and razors for people across castes will make the barbers’ tools of trade impure. When one barber last month offered his services to Valmikis he was bashed up by the Thakurs.

When the Valmikis lodged a complaint of discrimination with the police, the barbers had shut their shops and fled the village.

The Valmiki Dharm Samaj led by Lalla Babu Dravid launched a protest against this injustice and threatened that unless the upper castes took back their prohibition, the Valmikis will convert to Islam and become Muslims.

The conversion threat seems to have yielded immediate results. The administration has now swung into action and directed the Muslim barbers to extend their services to the Valmikis.

For the first time on Tuesday six of the barbers from Fatehpur Shamsoi reopened their shops to give haircuts and to shave Valmikis.

Two months ago, Asif Mehboob had announced that he would offer his services to people from all castes. Following this, a few Valmiki youth had had their haircut at his shop. But Asif had to go back on his words after being beaten up by some Thakurs.

The Valmikis then lodged a complaint with the police that the Muslim barbers were refusing their services out of fear of the Thakurs and Brahmins.

Following reports of the conversion threat published by Sabrang India and a few others, the SHO of Bhajoi, Ranjan Sharma offered police protection to the barbers and asked them not to refuse haircuts and shaves to members of the Valmiki community. The police protection has ensured the Thakurs and Brahmins can no longer dictate terms to the Muslim barbers.

There are around 15,000 Thakurs and Brahmins in Fatehpur Shamsoi village, while the Dalit population is around 2,000. In the past, the Valmikis had to trudge 15-20 kms to other places for a haircut or a shave.
 
 

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Notwithstanding assurances from the district administration and appeals by politicians, 33 more Muslim flees have left their homes to find refuge with their relatives elsewhere, the Times of India reports.

Sabrang India had earlier reported that following an attack on Muslim homes on May 11, in the wake of a Muslim man eloping with a married Hindu woman, 10 families had left Nadrauli village in Sambhal district in UP.

The families who have left the village are now reported to be living in Badaun, Sambhal city and Aligarh.

Also read: After Moradabad, Dalits from Sambhal threaten to convert to Islam

 “We have lost faith in the police and administration,” Mohammad Shakeel, a schoolteacher whose family was attacked, and now living in Gunnaur, told the Times of India.

Gunnaur sub-divisional magistrate Akhilesh Yadav said, “We have appealed to the families not to leave the village and assured them of round-the-clock security . The administration is also providing food to families still in the village.”

He added that they have asked the officials to prepare a list of all those who have left the village. “We will make appeal to them to come back and take responsibility of their security,” he said.

 Police have filed FIRs against hundreds of villagers.
 

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Representational Image. Photo credit: Chronic writer

Dalits from Sambhal district of UP have threatened to convert to Islam. They have warned that if atrocities against them continued they will abandon Hinduism and become Muslims.

Why are the Dalits from Sambhal so agitated? The reason is simple: Barbers in Fatehpur Shamsoi village are prohibited from extending their hair-cutting or shaving service to Dalits. The village is dominated by over 15,000 Thakurs and Brahmins while the Dalit population is around one thousand. Ever since Independence the Valmikis from the village are barred from availing the services of local barbers.

The Thakurs and Brahmins are of the view that since barbers use the same razors and scissors for all, the use of these instruments for Dalits renders them “impure”. Even today, the Valmikis from the village have to trudge 15-20 kms to Chandausi, Bhajoi or Islamnagar for their haircuts or for shaving of beards and trimming of moustaches.

When a Muslim barber agreed to offer his services to Dalits he was threatened by the upper castes. Fearful of the consequences, the barber backed out.
A month ago three Valmiki youth had had their haircut from a Muslim barber, Asif Ali. When they returned to Asif Ali for a shave, the latter was bashed up by the Thakurs. The Valmikis complained to the police but by the time the police arrived the barbers had shut their shops and fled the village.

Dalits from Sambhal are extremely agitated over this state of affairs. It is for this reason that they have threatened to change their religion. The president of the Valmiki Dharm Samaj, Lalla Babu Dravid has warned that if this ban was not lifted, Valmikis will desert Hinduism and turn to Islam.

Last Monday, Dravid along with a few other activists from the community went to Fatehpur Shamsoi and called a meeting of the village panchayat. The former sarpanch of the village, Sanjeev Sharma and the SHO, Ranjan Sharma were present.

At the meeting, Dravid warned that unless the Thakurs and Brahmins of the village lifted their ban concerning barbers within 24 hours, the Valmikis will leave Hinduism and become Muslims. The onus is now on the Thakurs and Brahmins of the village.

The upper castes have become emboldened ever since BJP’s Yogi Adityanath has become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Atrocities against Dalits have been on the rise with the encouragement of rightwing Hindu extremists. The administration is perceived as doing little to call a halt to the atrocities. Because of this, the Valmikis have been provoked into talking of converting to Islam.
 
 
 

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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.
 
 

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Agitated over growing attacks on Dalits across several cities of Uttar Pradesh,  the president of the Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, Lalla Babu Dravid has said 500 of its members would be converting to Islam.

The Times of India reports that dozens of members of the Valmiki community took out a procession to immerse the idols of Rama, Ganesh and other Hindu gods into the Ramgunga in Moradabad on Saturday. The procession was intended to be a symbolic farewell to Hinduism.

The protestors raised slogans against the BJP and declare they will help rebuild the Babri mosque.

Bajrang Dal activists who tried to stop the procession were outnumbered.

“Incidents of attacks on Dalits have increased after Yogi Adityanath has taken over. Dalits have been targeted in Saharanpur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Meerut. The perpetrators are being shielded by the government,” Dravid told the Times of India.

Dravid also alleged that Dalits were being boycotted in several villages.

Moradabad’s BJP MLA, Ritesh Gupta, told the Times of India: “Its their constitutional right to embrace any religion. But allegations against Dalit atrocities are baseless.”

Gupta alleged that Dravid is trying to give a political colour to the issue after the BJP refused to shield his son Vishal who s wanted by the police in a recent firing incident.   
 

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Photo credit: Reuters

Even as the Shiv Sena leadership in Maharashtra insists it is opposed to such action, Shiv Sainiks along with other Hindutva organisations forcibly shutdown 500 meat shops in Gurgaon, Haryana yesterday.

Meanwhile, the protesters in Sambhal town of UP resorted to violence on Wednesday to chase away the police, the Urdu daily, Inquilab, reports.

According to the Inquilab, the civic administration has sealed or shut down three shops in Hardwar (UP), 11 in Raipur (MP), one in Indore and numerous shops across Haryana.
The crackdown has affected the supply of meat across several states and many hotels have either shut down or are now serving only vegetarian food.

The Times of India has reported that over 15,000 students living in hostels in Aligarh Muslim University have had to go without meat as only vegetarian food is being served in the mess for the past few days.

Inquilab reports that several persons were injured in a clash between the police and Muslim protesters yesterday. The protesters resorted to heavy stone pelting forcing the police to flee from the spot.

The Urdu daily reports that on receiving news that two bullocks had been brought to the Deep Sarai locality in Sambhal for illegal slaughter, the police reached the spot and took away the cattle. Later the same afternoon, two policemen returned to the locality, roughed up two Muslim youth and attempted to arrest them.

On this agitated local Muslims chased away the two policemen and then resorted to heavy stone pelting when the latter returned with reinforcement. The policemen were forced to run away from the area. Thereafter, the police returned once again and arrested several people.

According to Inquilab a section of the meat traders are planning to approach the courts with their concern but it is feared that before then the police and the civic administration would have succeeded in forcing closures of slaughter houses and retail shops.

On Wednesday, the local administration called upon the traders and retail shopkeepers to call of their strike but to no avail.
 

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