Details of the incidents

Gujarat 

On April 15, Bhagirathsinh Rathod, founder of Ekta Aj Laksh Sangathan, delivered a communally charged speech in Kathlal, Kheda, indirectly accusing the Muslim community of engaging in stone pelting, and asking the young women audience to be wary of Muslim youngsters pursuing love jihad. The event was organised under the banner of “Samagra Hindu Sanatan Samaj”, purportedly celebrating “Ram Navami Mahotsav 2024”.

The excerpt from his speech reads, “If someone tries to meddle with our gods, faith, sisters, and cows,  we will respond back a brick with a stone. I warn (you), if this time some Jihadi minded people throw stones at our Shobha Yatra, then we will go the place from where he is throwing the stone, and we will throw him from that place.…though we do not disrespect any religion, we Sanatanis will not tolerate disrespect to our religion.…I repeat again, when you go to Navratri, see how do you look? You look like goddess Amba…(now) if some Mahishasur (demon) in the form of love jihadi comes to you, do not get trapped there, but tear his chest apart. We (all) are envisioning the Hindu Rashtra, therefore, we Hindus should not be fighting among ourselves over petty issues…we should aim to hold our unity together…”

Unnao

BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj gave the speech on April 17 at Bhagwantpur, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, during which he propagated false conspiracy theory of population jihad by hinting that Muslim men have 4 wives and 40 children, thus requiring population control law to prevent overpopulation in the country.

An excerpt from his speech reads, “When next time the Prime Minister Modi returns to the power he will do two things, first is the law to regulate population. ‘We two, and our two’ (hum do, hamare do), or whatever else it may be, but in any case, it will not allow 4 wives and 40 children. The availability of land is reducing and population is increasing, where will (you) stay? what will (you) eat? where will (you) reproduce? That is the reason why we need the law on population control.  We cannot have two constitutions in the same country, we have shown that in Kashmir. We also need to have Uniform Civil Code, and we will do it. Once we get 400+ seats, then there will be no symbol of slavery in this country, and then you will feel that the country has got freedom.”

Shambhaji Nagar

On April 17, in an event organised at Shambhaji Nagar in Maharashtra, children and minors were found performing the song whose lyrics advocated expulsion of people who did not sing Vande Mataram. The involvement or deployment of minors in the propagation of hate has seen some rise in the recent years. Most recently in Uttar Pradesh, school teacher had used communal slurs and directed classmates to slap a fellow minor Muslim classmate for not performing well in the academics. 

The children in this incident can be found performing the song with the following lyrics, “…(You) will have to sing Vande Mataram (audience repeats) or else you will have to leave from here (audience repeats again). If (you) refuse to leave, we will forcibly remove you, we will show (you) your place (aukaat). Jai Siya Ram, Jai Siya Ram, Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Jai Siya Ram, Jai Siya Ram.”

Amravati

On April 19, BJP Lok Sabha Candidate for Amravati Constituency, Navneet Rana, incited the crowd by saying that those who want to stay in India must chant Jai Shree Ram. 

Rana asks the crowd, “If you want to stay in India then…”, the audience responds back, (If you want to live in India then…) “you will have to say Jai Shree Ram”. Rana continues, “and you definitely have to say it (Jai Shree Ram)”. “Every kid has got aware about it, now Pakistan’s flag will not be tolerated in India, it will not be tolerated in Amravati.” “Those who love Pakistan…in my country only our flag will be hoisted, no other country’s flag will be tolerated by today’s youth”. 

As Rana retreats, another woman takes over the stage, telling the audience that cow slaughterers will go to hell, before the music starts playing in the background. The woman also incites the audience by referring to Kashi and Mathura (temple-mosque controversy), suggesting that they will meet similar fate as Ayodhya. The video shows that the crowd continues to cheer and dance to the beats of the music system while the woman adds to their frenzy with her own singing, suggesting religious and communal connotations as she begins singing to the beats of the loud speakers.

Chhattisgarh

On April 21, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was caught delivering a communally charged speech during his event in Rajnandgaon, Uttar Pradesh, where he used the familiar trope of Jihad, accusing the Congress of appeasement politics.

The excerpt from his speech reads, “Sisters and brothers, I ponder sometimes that even (our) mother cows were handed over to cattle smugglers and butchers, when jihadi activities were given free hand. What kind of incident had taken place with Bhuneshwar Sahu? I congratulate the public of Chhattisgarh for electing his father Ishwar Sahu as an MLA, paying a real tribute to Bhuneshwar Sahu. Bhuneshwar Sahu made only one mistake, that he opposed love jihad and Congress’s appeasement politics.”

Nashik

In a speech given by Harsha Thakur during an event organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj on 22 April at Budhwar Peth, Nashik, Maharastra, the speaker gave an open call to Hindu women to take up arms in order to protect themselves, with an ambiguous reference made against the Muslim community. 

The excerpt from the speech reads, “Learn to hold weapons in your hand, anybody can hide under Burqa. If you leave your religion, you will be found in 35 pieces, and then only fridge and suitcase will be discovered. Read Shaashtra (ancient literature) and take up the arms. Become staunch and loyal towards your religion.” 

Rajasthan

BJP leader Mahant Balaknath Yogi gave a speech in Sirohi, Rajasthan, on April 23, accusing the government of favouring a “particular” religious community while unfairly discriminating against Hindus. Mahant accused previous Congress government in Rajasthan of appeasement politics, noting that Hindus did not get a single rupee in compensation even while a cow smuggler’s family from a “particular” community received 25 lakhs in compensation by the former Rajasthan CM.

The transcript of the speech reads, “…The kind of activities that have taken place in Rajasthan in recent times, how the politics of appeasement was given a push. You must not have forgotten the Jaipur and Udaipur incidents, how somebody slit the throat of a Ram Bhakt. In Jaipur, a member from a particular community was killed in an accident, what right did they have to give Rajasthan’s 50 lakh rupees as a compensation? So many sisters and daughters have been disrobed of their respect, and many were brutally killed, but nobody got any money; on the other hand, particular community is getting paid 50 lakhs. Somebody killed a smuggler in Alwar, he was (actually) killed in other state, that is what people are saying. Chief minister had gone to his house, 10 cases of cow smuggling is registered against this person, and the chief minister gave his household 25 Lakhs…your former chief minister (gave it).” 

In a separate incident in Gurugram (Haryana), Bajrang Dal members were captured on record forcibly closing Muslim shops selling non-vegetarian food on Hanuman Janmotsav festival. The video of the incident was uploaded by Hindutva Watch on April 26 on its Telegram channel.

Related:

Elections 2024: The past fortnight of April 2024 saw the first phases of the Lok Sabha polls marred by repeat doses of hate speech

Ram Navami Celebrations 2024: Calls for mosque desecration, sword displays, and provocative slogans ignite tensions

Several instances of hate speech in March and April mar the election cycle, demonise religious minorities before the polls 

The post April: CJP’s hate watch campaign analyses several hate incidents reported across the country in the last week appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Gruesome details have been reported in the Mohammad Faisal Hussain “custodial death” case at Bangarmau Police Station in Unnao. While the police had initially claimed that the 17-year old had died of a “heart attack” on Friday, the post mortem report has now revealed that he in fact had succumbed to a head injury.

According to a report in the Indian Express, CCTV footage from the police station shows that the teenager was “dragged by some unidentified people as he struggles to walk or stand” he repeatedly collapses when two persons try to lift him, stated the IE report, adding that it was “not clear whether Hussain is being taken from the police station or being brought there.”

A day after his death, and subsequent protest by his family seeking justice and allegeding that Faisal was thrashed so badly by the police that he died, the postmortem reports blows the police version of a “heart attack” as the prima facie the cause of his death to smithereens. Faisal died of a head injury, stated the autopsy reports, and the post mortem examination also “found a severe injury behind Hussain’s ear and at least 12 contusions on his body” reported IE.

Nature and number of injuries on body of teenaged vegetable vendor Mohd Faisal listed in the post mortem report. Policemen had beaten Faisal to death for violation of lockdown. This report leaves Unnao police officers with egg on face for insisting he died of heart-panic attack. pic.twitter.com/JkEzVOkt2z

— हैदर ‏حیدر Haidar Naqvi?? (@haidarpur) May 23, 2021

On Friday night, the vegetable vendor’s family had told the media that he had been picked up by police and accused of violating Covid norms, and then they alleged the cops beat the boy severely. The boy’s family and supporters had even staged a protest at Lucknow road crossing against the police brutality. They sat with his body, in protest and demanded that the guilty be punished.

The three police officials identified as Constables Vijay Choudhary and Seemavat, and Home Guard Satya Prakash have been charged with murder, and suspended. However, it is not clear if all of them have been arrested yet. According to IE, Unnao Superintendent of Police Anand Kulkarni just said, “We will proceed as per the evidence present with us” when asked about the pending arrest. However, Kulkarni confirmed seeing the CCTV footage, and said the injury near the ear had caused internal bleeding and told the media that the probe “will seek medico-legal advice” and proceed “accordingly.”

The IE reports that according to Kulkarni there is CCTV footage available from  the police station as well as the shop in a vegetable market from where Faisal was picked. The report states, “It is clearly seen that when he comes to the police station, he collapses. He is then picked up. But he collapses again. Then some police officials give him water. This whole sequence of events is recorded in the CCTV footage. In the meantime, some of his family members come” and the SP added: “I have also seen the CCTV footage of policemen slapping him at the shop from where he was picked up. They don’t hit him with sticks or anything else there.”

Faisal’s neighbour Mohammad Laeeq, told media-persons that he saw police beating him after they asked him what time it was. He recalled, “They started slapping him… I am not sure why the policemen singled him out as others were present at their shops as well.” The family, stated news reports, have in their complaint, said, Faisal “was beaten up mercilessly at the police station in the presence of Station House Officer” and that “When the family members reached the police station, he had been taken to the hospital and was left there, after which the policemen fled from there.” The report added that the family claims that while Choudhary and Prakash picked up the 18-year-old, Constable Seemavat took him to the local Community Health Centre (CHC) after his condition deteriorated. He was soon declared dead.

Home Guard arrested for ‘beating UP vendor to death’

Uttar Pradesh police have now arrested Home Guard Satya Prakash in connection with the “custodial death” case  of 17-year old  Mohammad Faisal Hussain. Unnao SP Anand Kulkarni told media-persons, “Preliminary investigation suggests that Vijay Choudhary and Satya Prakash were involved in the incident. We have not found any evidence against Seemavat as yet.” Constable Choudhary is still absconding, and according to the SP, “Search operations are being conducted by our teams at several places. The case is being investigated by the Crime Branch, which is collecting evidence and action will be taken as per the evidence.” The victim’s family had in their complaint alleged that Faisal was assaulted brutally at the police station in the presence of the station house officer. They stated that it was Choudhary and Satya Prakash who picked Faisal up, and Constable Seemavat took him to the CHC after his condition deteriorated.

Related:

Unnao: Teenaged Muslim vendor dies after police beating for violating Corona curfew
UP: 1,621 people on polling duty dead, but gov’t recognises only 3!
Uttar Pradesh: Bodies in the river, more buried in the sands, tell tales of Govt apathy

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The Uttar Pradesh government has imposed a ‘corona curfew’ in the state till May 24 in a bid to slow the surge of Covid-19 that is currently wreaking havoc. However, this curfew itself seems to have become as dangerous as the disease itself. There is unrest reported from the state’s Unnao district, following the death of a teenage vegetable vendor who was mercilessly thrashed allegedly in police custody. The policemen had him in custody for “violating the ongoing corona curfew” stated news reports. The 17-year-old boy identified as Mohammad Faisal, died on Friday, succumbing to the injuries caused.

According to the Unnao police, two police constables have been suspended and a case has been registered against them. A member of the Home Guard, who was initially suspended, has now been dismissed from service, said the police.

थाना बांगरमऊ क्षेत्रांतर्गत युवक की मृत्यु हो जाने के संदर्भ में संबन्धित के विरुद्ध की गई कार्यवाही के विषय में अपर पुलिस अधीक्षक उन्नाव द्वारा दी गई बाइट @Uppolice @dgpup @adgzonelucknow @Igrangelucknow pic.twitter.com/2TCyvaZMp7

— UNNAO POLICE (@unnaopolice) May 21, 2021

The boy was selling vegetables outside his house in Bangarmau town in Unnao, reported NDTV, when he was picked up by the cops, taken to the local police station and allegedly assaulted. Even the police statement now on social media says as the boy’s condition deteriorated he was rushed to the Community Health Centre, where he was declared dead.

Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, reacted to the death and said this reflected the “hate Muslims face. There is no respite from violence for Muslims even in a raging pandemic.”

17 year old Faisal was a vegetable seller in Unnao, UP. He was beaten to death by cops. He was allegedly violating lockdown & for that he deserved to be killed

This is the truth about hate Muslims face. There is no respite from violence for Muslims even in
a raging pandemic 1/4

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) May 22, 2021

Thousands joined the boy’s family and staged a protest at Lucknow road crossing against the police brutality. They sat with his body, in protest and demanded that the guilty be punished. 

Family of Faisal protest with his dead body who was killed by police in custody in the name of law & order in Unnao UP.

Govt Should give compensation to his family & Job to one person. Those policeman should be booked for Murder.#JusticeForFaisal pic.twitter.com/qmwcbWv9gX

— Faisal Nadeem (@FaisalNadeemAMU) May 21, 2021

According to Amar Ujala, senior police officers arrived at the protest site and assured them that action will be taken. However, the protest continued till late night. The protestors have asked that a government job and compensation be provided to the victim’s family. According to media reports, the police responded with a statement that the “two constables and a home guard have been suspended with immediate effect in the matter, and the entire matter will be probed.”

The three police officials identified as Constables Vijay Choudhary and Seemavat, and Home Guard Satya Prakash have been charged with murder, reported the Indian Express. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shashi Shekhar Singh told the media that the three “were already suspended soon after the incident. It was lodged based on the complaint from the family.” Faisal’s uncle Meraj told reporters that his nephew was selling vegetables in the market when policemen came and slapped him a few times and then “they took him to the police station on their motorcycle. They beat him at the police station too and he died there.” The police had initially said that 17-year-old Faisal had “prima facie died of a heart attack”. 

Related:

Barabanki mosque demolition: Cops booked 8 committee members for fraud
Lucknow: Right to Public Health activists called anti-Modi-Yogi, beaten by mob
EXCLUSIVE: Are Varanasi police trying to create communal tension?

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“We are being ‘reviewed’ all the time. Our teams are out on the field all day, giving medicines to Covid positive patients, helping them isolate, giving samples for testing… then at around 4-5 pm the deputy district head calls us for reviews… we are then duty bound to go and give this review to the administrative heads… but we are blamed even if medicines are in short supply, or if some patient has given an incorrect address and cannot be verified…,” says a Doctor, one of many who are in charge of Community Health Centres and Primary Health Care centres in Unnao. He along with many colleagues have quit, citing official harassment and being subjected to threats and abusive language.

14 doctors incharge of rural @UPGovt hospitals in Unnao quit their posts last evening , saying they were fed up of ‘misbehaviour’ by superiors and endless #Covid review meetings . This is one of the doctors who signed on the joint resignation letter …. pic.twitter.com/XUSQK5WJa5

— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) May 13, 2021

These so-called ‘reviews’, say the doctors take place arbitrarily, and the onus is put on the frontline healthcare worker “to prove we worked” to the bureaucrats in charge. These doctors are essentially working in rural hospitals that provide frontline healthcare to villages, and say they are working long days to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Uttar Pradesh, which has been badly hit by Covid-19, has reported over 18,023 new cases in the last 24 hours. The Union Health Ministry data stated that around. 326 Covid patients had died in the 24 hour period. According to reports, Uttar Pradesh is the fourth worst Covid-19-hit state.

However, the red tape and bureaucratic high-handedness that these 14 government doctors in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, have alleged, are an example of how the pandemic is more than that of Coronavirus. According to an NDTV report, these doctors have resigned en-masse from their posts alleging that “they are being made the scapegoats for the rise in Covid infections in the district”. According to the doctor, the administration seems to blame them when medications are in short supply even though they have been raising invoices for procurements regularly.

The 14 doctors who quit are posted at Community Health Centres and Primary Health Care centres in Unnao, perhaps the only access to medical care for the villagers. According to NDTV, 11 of the 14 doctors who signed on a joint resignation letter, also visited the office of Unnao’s chief medical officer on Wednesday evening and handed it over to his deputy. The letter, cited by NDTV, states that “despite working hard in the pandemic, punitive action and bad behavior” is being hurled at the doctors. The report quotes  Dr Sharad Vaishya, one of the doctors who quit as saying, “Our teams are working round the clock, but it seems we are being marked out for ‘not working’. The DM, other officials, even the SDM and the tehsildar are all supervising us and holding review meetings. Our teams leave at noon, track and isolate Covid positive patients, get sampling done, distribute medicines and then, once we are back, we get calls from SDM asking to come for review meetings. Even if someone is posted 30 km away, he or she is bound to travel all the 30 km for these review meetings. We have to prove that we have worked. It seems it is being suggested that because we are not working, the Covid infection is spreading.” 

Meanwhile, the administration is now on the path to pour oil on troubled waters. District magistrate Ravindra Kumar told the media that the administration was “talking to the doctors. The Chief Minister’s Office has spoken to them, and we will find a solution to the problem. They are part of our team. They are not strangers. We will get over this.” 

Related:

Covid-19: Shortage of vaccines begins to pinch
Around 140 bodies found in river Ganga, officials yet to confirm them as Covid deaths
EC, courts and Government failed to see risk of polls during Covid-19: Allahabad HC
UP: Covid-19 norms flouted as hundreds turn up for Islamic leader’s funeral
Rs. 1 cr compensation should be given to families of polling officials who died of 

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DNA Protest against rape

BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is one of the accused in the gang-rape. The father of the gang-rape survivor was allegedly abducted by Sengar’s brother Atul and his aides, at the behest of Sengar, in early April 2018. CBI has listed Yunus as an eyewitness; he had a grocery shop near where the survivor’s father was allegedly tied to a tree and beaten, The Telegraph reported, adding that Sengar allegedly caused the survivor’s father to be implicated in a false illegal arms case. The father was arrested, and on April 8 died in police custody. 

Yunus was quickly buried following his death, and no post-mortem was conducted. A source from the CBI, which is investigating the Unnao case, told The Telegraph that Yunus’s “family members did not inform us about his death. They buried him silently. We need time to take a decision on this development.” Yunus’s neighbours in Unnao’s Makhi told the Times of India that Yunus fell ill on August 18, and passed away while being rushed to the district hospital. However, the DNA reported that, according to villagers in Makhi, Yunus took ill suddenly and died before he could be taken to the hospital. 

The Unnao gang-rape survivor’s uncle has alleged that Sengar is responsible for Yunus’s death. “I am sure Kuldeep is behind his death. I have written to the CBI, the district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Unnao to exhume Khan’s body for a post-mortem,” the uncle said on Wednesday, August 22, The Telegraph reported. Yunus’s “family members have said he fell ill suddenly and died. They hurriedly buried him under pressure from the MLA,” the uncle said. However, Yunus’s wife, Sabina told reporters that he had had a liver infection for four months, and was being treated, and was buried following his death. She said Yunus’s family had no knowledge of the gang-rape survivor’s uncle’s accusations, and that they would not take objection to the body being exhumed, The Telegraph reported. 

The survivor’s uncle has also alleged that Sengar has made moves to impede the case. He said, “While the victim was a minor when she was raped, Kuldeep recently forced the teachers of the school where she studied to change her date of birth to prove that she was an adult at that time. The CBI visited the school recently and recovered the original documents,” the Telegraph reported. The survivor’s family has alleged that Sengar’s aides have threatened witnesses and asked villagers to stay away from the CBI, The New Indian Express reported. 

Both Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Atul are in prison with their aides. The CBI has named Kuldeep and four aides in a chargesheet for alleged kidnapping, inducement and rape. In a separate chargesheet, the brother Atul and his aides have been named for the alleged murder of the survivor’s father. 
 

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