Rajasthan violence: Town on edge, curfew clamped, both sides count losses
Local residents allege the crowd raised incendiary slogans such as “topi wala bhi Jai Shri Ram bolega (one wearing the skull cap will also chant Jai Shri Ram)”.
6 min read
Local residents allege the crowd raised incendiary slogans such as “topi wala bhi Jai Shri Ram bolega (one wearing the skull cap will also chant Jai Shri Ram)”. (Express)Three days after communal violence broke out in Karauli, smoke continues to rise from at least two burnt shops. All around are half-burnt lac bangles, new bangles still in their cases, a destroyed mini-safe, a shop with its entire first floor collapsed, and a large contingent of police. With curfew in place still, and Internet and SMS services restricted, it is quiet.
That was not the case on April 2 evening. As per the FIR lodged over the violence, by Karauli Police Station SHO Rameshwar Dayal Meena, starting 4 pm, a Shobha Yatra to mark Nav Samvatsar, or the Hindu New Year, was taken out through the town by “400-500 persons on 200-215 bikes”, raising slogans such as Jai Shri Ram. A vehicle with a DJ system accompanied them playing songs “of Hindu organisations.”
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As they reached a Muslim locality near Masjid Maniharan, they were pelted with stones from rooftops, causing injuries to the people on the bikes and the policemen accompanying them, police said. The FIR says the stone-pelting appeared to be “a pre-planned conspiracy”. Shops were burnt, and about two dozen persons were injured. Police, accompanying the march, were unable to control the violence.
Local residents allege the crowd raised incendiary slogans such as “topi wala bhi Jai Shri Ram bolega (one wearing the skull cap will also chant Jai Shri Ram)”.
Ten persons were admitted to hospital while 22 others were given first-aid and discharged, apart from six policemen. One seriously injured person was referred to Jaipur.
A shop owner, who does not want to be named, denies the allegation that the attack was planned from their side. “If we had done it, why would all of us be sitting with our shops open? Wouldn’t we have shut our shops to avoid arson?”
However, those injured in the stone-pelting say stones rained at them all of a sudden. “It led to a stampede, and a lot of us were injured,” says Vipin Sharma. Bablu Shukla, whose wife Rashmi Shukla is a local councillor, demanded that “Strict action should be taken against all those involved, irrespective of their religion.”
Around 35 shops were set on fire or vandalised.
The FIR names 37 people, including local councillor Matloob Ahmed, convenor Neeraj Sharma who had applied for permission for the rally, Sahab Singh Gurjar, state president of the Hindu Sena, and Rajaram Gurjar, former Chairman of the Municipal Council, Karauli.
Eyewitness and police officials told The Indian Express that the rally, which started from Karauli’s Ramdwara Adarsh Vidyalaya, moved smoothly till about Photta Kot Chowraha. At Kharadian Mohalla, which also houses Masjid Maniharan, the stone-pelting started.
The FIR says stones were pelted from the mosque, as well as shops and homes, and that about 100-150 people gathered with sticks to confront the youth at the rally.
With their route blocked, the youth left their bikes, and gathered at the Photta Kot Chowraha, where they attacked shops, destroying and burning them. The bikes left behind were in turn burnt by the locals.
The FIR says stones were pelted from the mosque, as well as shops and homes, and that about 100-150 people gathered with sticks to confront the youth at the rally.
Among the policemen present were SHO Rameshwar Dayal and RPS officer Manraj Meena. Other policemen, in civilian clothes, were in the midst of the bike-borne youth.
Around 35 shops were set on fire or vandalised, a police official said. These were mainly run by Muslims. So far, 20 people have been arrested while over 50 have been put under preventive arrest. The latter includes those found violating the curfew.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of vitiating the atmosphere. On BJP president J P Nadda’s visit to adjacent Sawai Madhopur district the day violence broke out in Karauli, the CM said: “Ye aag lagane ke liye aate hain, poore desh mein aag laga rahe hain. Aaye, aag lag gayi (They come to light the fires, they are setting the entire country on fire. [He] came, and the fires were lit).”
Claiming that the BJP was “already in election mode in Rajasthan”, and urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to condemn the violence, Gehlot asked why those taking out rallies in the name of religion needed to shout provocative slogans or use DJs. “If you want to take out a religious rally, who would have stopped you?”
Former CM Vasundhara Raje said that “to hide his failures, the CM is levelling allegations against top BJP leaders”, adding that he should not “try to hide the crimes of the rioters”.
A police official said: “Apparently, some muscle-flexing was going on from both sides for some time. Moreover, as per our initial feedback, there was some ‘extra’ preparation by some people on the rooftops. However, we are still investigating.”
IPS officer Mridul Kachawa, deployed in Karauli post the violence, denied that some shops were set on fire the day after the incident.
Ten persons were admitted to hospital while 22 others were given first-aid and discharged, apart from six policemen. One seriously injured person was referred to Jaipur.
The FIR has been lodged under IPC Sections for attempt to murder; rioting; criminal conspiracy; as well as under 153A (promoting enmity between different groups and acts prejudicial to harmony), and sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
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