Days after communal flare-up, crackdown in Nuh: 200 arrested so far, houses demolished

Meanwhile, Nuh Deputy Commissioner Prashant Panwar and Superintendent of Police Varun Singla were transferred, an official order said. Singla, who was on leave when the clashes broke out, has been replaced with Narendra Bijarniya.

Hours before he was transferred, Panwar had told a press conference that structures were razed on “encroached land” in the district. He said officials of the Forest Department removed encroachments from about 5 acres of land behind the Nalhar Shiv Temple. It was at this temple where the yatra had begun.

Similarly, Panwar said, 6 acres of land belonging to the Forest Department were cleared in Punhana while an acre was cleared in the Dhobi Ghat area of Nagina municipality area. Some temporary sheds were also demolished in Nangal Mubarakpur, Panwar added.

A shuttered shop near the Delhi-Alwar Road was also razed, with officials alleging it was built on encroached government land.

A senior police officer told The Indian Express the demolition had nothing to do with the communal violence. “None of those whose houses are being razed is accused in the (violence) case,” said the police officer.

In Nalhar, Aas Mohammad, 56, who works as a hospital guard, said he received a notice from the forest department just before his house was razed.

“I was given the notice around 4 pm today when I was getting ready to leave for work. They said they would demolish my home in two days, but half an hour later, a bulldozer came. The forest department officer asked me to get my things out,” said Mohammad, adding that he had built the house in 1999.

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Nuh post the communal clash between two community, in Nuh, Haryana, On Friday, August 04, 2023. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

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Nuh post the communal clash between two community, in Nuh, Haryana, On Friday, August 04, 2023. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

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Nuh post the communal clash between two community, in Nuh, Haryana, On Friday, August 04, 2023. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

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Nuh post the communal clash between two community, in Nuh, Haryana, On Friday, August 04, 2023. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

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Nuh post the communal clash between two community, in Nuh, Haryana, On Friday, August 04, 2023. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

The June 30 notice, which had the date written in ink, stated: “It has been reported that you have undertaken non-forest activity…(on) notified protected forest (land) … Hence you are called upon (to give) your explanation within seven days of receiving this notice…if you fail to submit your explanation or remove illegal encroachment within the specified time, the action will be initiated to remove illegal encroachment without any further reference to you…”

A forest department officer leading the demolition exercise in one area did not respond to questions on the timing of the demolitions.

Two km away from Mohammad’s house in Nalhar, two families said they were asked to vacate their houses hours before bulldozers came rumbling.

“We were not home when two notices were stuck on our doors. Since we can’t read English, we went to a nearby house and they said the order stated that houses will be demolished in seven days,” said Barfeena(16), whose father Altaf died four years ago..

The two families said they had been living on the land for the past 35 years.

“Around 3 pm, when I was making roti, they (officials) came with the bulldozer. They asked us to vacate the place and I couldn’t even say anything,” said Khurshidan, whose small brick house was razed. “While they were demolishing it, I requested them with folded hands not to raze it,” she said. The family comprises Khurshidan, her 10 children, nine girls and a boy aged 10.

Sitting near the debris of what was her home, Mehram, whose husband Iqbal died during the pandemic, said: “No man lives in these houses and we are illiterate. They did not give us time to get our things out.”

Meanwhile, Vij said curfew in Nuh was being relaxed from time to time and that the internet services, which were barred following the violence, would be restored as soon as possible.

He said 102 FIRs have been registered so far in connection with the clashes, half of which are in Nuh alone, while the rest were in other districts such as Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal.

Hinting at a conspiracy, he said: “It [the violence] was pre-planned. There were sticks, guns. Bullets were fired from the mountains, stones were collected on the terraces and fronts were made. Whether it was arranged by someone or the other, it was done with pre-planning. Information about all these things is being collected and action will be taken,” Vij added.

Vij also rejected Rajasthan Chief Minister’s allegations that Haryana was not cooperating in efforts to arrest Monu Manesar, a Bajrang Dal member and a self-styled gau rakshak wanted in the neighbouring state. Manesar’s name has cropped up in connection with the Nuh violence.

“We have never stopped anyone. He is their culprit. The Haryana police go to the other states to arrest culprits. Everyone cooperates, we will also cooperate,” he said. “He will be caught at any cost and he will be punished for the crime he has committed.”