Four Muslim  men, hailing from Patel village, in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested and charged under various IPC sections including 307 (attempt to murder) for stealing chickens!

They were arrested on March 4 by police from Azamgarh district, and were reportedly accused of “stealing a cargo van of poultry”. The police called them ‘murgi chor’ or chicken thieves. However, once in custody and after questioning, additional charges including Section 307, 34, 392, 342, 363, 366 etc of the IPC were leveled against them.

According to a local, once in the police station, the men were allegedly rouged up, taunted and asked if they also ‘kept the stolen chicken,’ and if they ‘also traded in cows’. In Uttar Pradesh, any trade in cattle has been a red flag, especially for the minority community which is vulnerable to attacks from right wing groups in such circumstances.

The four men identified as Abdul Rehman, Mohhamad Javed and Javed Khan, were arrested with one Sufiyan. According to local sources, Sufiyan, who hails from Makhdumpur and works as a driver, has been involved in petty theft a few times in the past, and it is said that the police were on the lookout for him. 

However, Abdul Rehman who hails from Patel village area (locally pronounced as Patella) did not know this, and hired him as a driver. Hence when Sufiyan was nabbed, so were the others including Abdul Rehman, who were with him in the small vehicle he was driving. Sufiyan’s criminal antecedents were not known to anyone who was arrested along with him that day. According to a local resident, the men who hail from Patella and nearby villages, do not have any criminal records at all and are innocent, and just happened to be with Sufiyan. 

“They are being framed, please help them,” said a villager, who added that in Uttar Pradesh a lot of innocent people are being framed in fake cases. The officials are also still on the lookout for anyone they even suspect of being involved in the farmers movement too. However, these men from Patella, who are still in the police lockup, according to locals, did not have anything to do with even that. The men were arrested for merely being in the same vehicle, driven by a driver whose antecedents they had not verified.

However, the arrests made it to a local news channel named PP News 24X7, which has put out the police version in a video. According to this ‘news’ the poultry ladden van was stolen in the last week of February, and the police had been on the lookout for the ‘criminals’. It added that four more accused were still at large, but the police had ‘recovered’ an illegal ‘desi tamancha’ or country made pistol, a live cartridge and a spent cartridge from the accused.

It added that the police also recovered lost vehicles, including a Bolero and a pick-up van, and some cash from the accused. It also aired a byte of the Azamgarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Sudhir Kumar Singh, who called this a ‘gang of looters’. The senior policeman also accused the alleged gang of trading in cattle, including taking cattle to slaughter. The ‘news’ channel then aired a video of the police questioning a man wearing a mask, about his activities. The police then displayed the weapons and ammunition it reportedly recovered from the accused.

“The police are just trying to frame these men from Patel. Their only mistake is that they did not verify the driver of the vehicle. But the police are now trying to trap them in cases they have no involvement in. It is a scary situation,” said another resident of Patel village.  

The FIR copy may be viewed here:

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Image Courtesy: ANI

While the whole nation was home, grappling with the coronavirus lockdown, on Thursday night, a 40-year-old tribal man from Jharkhand’s Dumka district was allegedly lynched by a mob on the suspicion of theft at Saraiyahat, 50 km from the Dumka district headquarters, The Telegraph India reported.

Pramod Hajra, originally a resident of the Ambatari village in Bihar, was living at his in-laws’ residence in the tribal village of Sumeta in Dhouni Panchayat, Dumka. He passed away on the spot due to his injuries.

Police officials reported that Hajra, who was reportedly wanted in several burglary cases, was caught by villagers as he was allegedly trying to get away with 400 grams of stolen silver jewellery and Rs. 4,800 cash with the help of two accomplices, from the houses of Viram Mandal and Laxmi Mandal, residents of the Kendua village.

A mob of around 20 people caught Hajra, stripped him and tied his hands with his trousers while questioning him.

Sanjay Janak Murthy, the station officer in-charge of the Saraiyahat police station said, “The deceased has been identified as Pramod Hajra, a resident of Ambatari village that falls under the jurisdiction of Bausi police station in Bihar’s Banka district. He was an interstate criminal.”

Murthy had said that he had received information about three people entering a house in Kendua with the intention of robbery and had been chased by villagers, who only got hold of Hajra. When the police reached the spot, they found out that he had died. The police questioned the villagers and took Hajra’s body for a post-mortem. Hajra had received deep wounds on his head and chest in the assault.

Condemning the incident and saying that the civilized society will not tolerate such monstrous acts, Sub-divisional Police officer, Animesh Naithani said, “Cops later took the body to the police station. Strict action will be taken against the offenders.”

Hajra’s widow Kanchan Devi who has now filed an FIR, however alleged that her husband was killed over a dispute that had taken place earlier. She said that she had accused some men of sexual harassment earlier could have been part of the mob that killed her husband.

The Mandal brothers too have filed an FIR about the theft.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, YS Ramesh who assigned the investigation to be taken up as priority said, “We are strict about identifying the persons involved in the incident and action will be taken against them.” No arrests in the incident have been made so far.

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Image Courtesy: TOI

Pyaaz, Mirch, Bhakri, the sustenance of India’s toiling agrarian class. A raw onion, a green chilly and a Bhakri (bhākri, bhakkari) is a round flat unleavened bread often used in the cuisine of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. But with the unchecked crisis in the agrarian economy, this basic and nutritious vegetable is denied to millions.

September 2019, as the prices of this most essential commodity, an important ingredient of almost every Indian meal, onions touched sky rocketing prices, a bizarre incident of theft of onions worth Rs. 1 lakh in Nashik district of Maharashtra also added a touch of black humour to an unfolding crisis. The retail prices of onion prices have touched as high as Rs. 60-80 per kg mark in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Even in Chennai the prices are around Rs. 60 per kg.

In the midst of this, onion farmer Rahul Bajirao Pagar approached the Nashik police on Monday and informed that he had kept a ‘summer stock’ of 25 tonne onions in 117 plastic crates at his storehouse in Kalwan taluka, as per police inspector Pramod Wagh.

However, on Sunday evening, to his utter dismay, he found that the entire stock worth nearly Rs. 1 lakh was missing, Pagar said in his complaint. Inspector Wagh said that based on his complaint a case of theft has been registered and search is on.

At the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Nashik, the summer onion stocks are being auctioned for around Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 5,000 per quintal (per 100 kg), as per a source.

Meanwhile in another incident, some unidentified persons allegedly mixed urea (fertiliser) in the onion stock of farmer Vishnu Aher in Bhaur village, an official at Devla police station said. The farmer in his complaint alleged that the mischief resulted in rotting of about 120 tonnes of his onions worth Rs 5 lakh, he said.

Not only has the price rise added to a common person’s burden, but also has shown the gaps in the management of such essential commodities by the government. The government, in order to curtail prices, issued tenders to import onion from Pakistan. This decisions has been opposed by farmers.

Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections are weeks away, just around the corner, even as the states were grappling with other problems such as the floods in Maharashtra, this onion crisis has posed several challenges for masses of our people.

The recent rise in onion prices has been a result of last year’s drought and a delayed monsoon this year. The situation is exacerbated by excessive rainfall in onion-growing areas, which has delayed the harvest period by a week or so.

About 90 percent of India’s onion comes from the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Of this, Maharashtra contributes to nearly one-third of the country’s production of the vegetable.Nashik, Pune, Ahmednagar, and Aurangabad form the onion-growing belt of Maharashtra.

The onion crop is grown in three phases throughout the year, -Kharif (which is sown in May-July and harvested in October-December); late kharif (which is sown in August-September and harvested in January-March); and Rabi (which is sown in October-November and harvested in April).

To prevent the crop form sprouting and getting spoilt, farmers usually store their onion produce in moisture-proof and dust-proof structures, called kanda chawl. They release their produce steadily depending on the price of onion in the market, which enables continuous supply.

This year, the cultivation of onion in the rabi crop cycle decreased in Maharashtra – from 3.54 lakh hectares in 2017-18 to 2.66 lakh hectares in 2018-19.

As if this wasn’t enough, Karnataka received unprecedented and heavy rainfall during the harvest period of the onion grown in kharif season. In addition, the arrival of kharif onions from Karnataka has been delayed after the state was lashed with heavy rains a couple of weeks ago.

While markets saw the arrival of 35,000 quintals per day in September last year, the amount has dropped to 25,000 quintals this year. The new batch of kharif onion crop grown in Maharashtra would not hit the market before the end of October this year. Until then, the stored rabi crop will be supplied to the market.

Currently, the Centre has a buffer stock of 56,000 tonnes of onion, of which 16,000 tonnes has been offloaded so far. In Delhi, 200 tonnes a day is being offloaded, news agency PTI reported.However, most worrying is the fluctuation that this commodity’s prices face in the market. For example, just this February the onion prices kept plummeting to an all time low. This caused a serious distress among farmers, so much so that many committed suicides.

In 2018, Maharashtra faced an oversupply of the kitchen staple due to excessive holding of kharif onions or Gavthi onions, which have a longer shelf-life and usually arrive by March. That year, there was a massive storage of such onions. Farmers retained their stock for over six months in the expectation that prices would rise. But they never did, and by December, panic-stricken farmers literally dumped the onions.

History of onion cultivation

Interestingly, onions are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in human history. Although most scientists agree that onion cultivation started around 5000 BC in Asia, some believe that it was Central Asia that pioneered this, while other believe that it originated from Iran and West Pakistan. Archeological evidence shows that onions were planted by ancient Egyptians about two thousands year later.

Onions grow easily and are easy to plant! That is the reason why onions were among the first vegetables to be consumed and domesticated.

They can grow in multitude of soils and climates. They are less perishable than other vegetables and can be dried and stored for long periods as well as consumed when food is scarce.

In addition to their culinary use, onions are cherished for their antiseptic and medicinal use. Ancient Egyptians used onions in art and mummification and buried their Pharaohs with onions. Onions were cultivated and used by other civilizations like the Chinese (5000 years ago), the Sumerians (2500 BC), the Babylonians, the Greek, the Romans, and among ancient Indians.
 

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According to reports, the incident took place at the Peoplebera -1 Panchayat of Tamluk Sub division, East Medinipur. The prime accused is Jayanta Maity, the husband of the local Panchayat Pradhan Jharna Maity.

According to the FIR that was filed by the father of the boy S.K Rafik, to the Tamluk Police Station, the boy namely S.K Ismail, 11, has been missing since June 3. On that day, some residents of Gourangapur along with members of Gourangapur Sports Authority Club, namely, Avijit, Chiku, Sanu and others were chasing Ismail near the Kakgachia Madan Maity market, following which he was beaten the Haldia-Mecheda bound bus terminal. Four of his fingers were chopped off as he tried to protect himself from a blow to the head. Then he was brought to the club and was badly tortured, allegedly under the orders of Jayanta Maity. After that, the boy has been missing and his family is unsure if he is alive or dead.
 

According to Sanaullah Khan, President of All India Muslim Association, “We gave a deputation to the Superintendent of Police, East Medinipur and he sought 72 hours to take action against the culprits engaged into this case”. He also wrote in his Facebook Page that BJP workers are operating the saffronised agenda under the banner of Trinamool leadership.

When the SP was contacted, he said, “Two accused have been arrested till now. Further investigation is going on”. He also said that the true identity of the boy is not clear till now as the mother of the boy initially denied that it was her son.
 

But more worryingly, the main accused-Jayanta Maity-has still not been arrested.

The local Office-in-Charge of Tamluk Police Station, when was contacted denied to comment on this case. “investigation is going on, we can’t say anything now’, he said. The parents of the boy till now could not be contacted.
The father demanded the case to be filed under 302, 307, 308,295A, 298, 326,364 and 365 in his FIR.

A video footage of Ismail, which was confirmed by the father and Ismail’s aunt, Fatima Bibi, showed him in a room, where he was being abused and beaten up by a number of people.

Upon hearing this, residents of Kakgecha and Bhandarbera villages, Tamluk, blocked the national highway and demanded the arrests of the prime accused Jayanta Maity and the club members involved in this case along with locating the boy and ensuring his safety. The angry crowd dispersed after the local authorities ensured that they would do everything possible to locate the boy and arrest the accused.

Courtesy: Two Circles

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