I ran and the Gurjjars chased me,raining lathis on my back
Meo maulvi Rashid,who is at the centre of Bharatpur clash,speaks of the assault that triggered riot.
For more than a week now,Imam Abdul Rashid has lain low and rarely ventured outside the relatives house in Andhvadi in Bharatpur where he had been hiding out since the September 14 riots in neighbouring Gopalgarh.
It is the assault on Rashid the day before on September 13 that many,including police officials,consider to be the flashpoint,and Rashid fears reprisals from the Gurjjars and the police. The police have registered an FIR against him for allegedly making provocative speeches from the village masjid before the violence erupted.
At the first Meo Muslim meeting he has attended since the riots,Rashid told The Indian Express that the Gurjjar community in Gopalgarh has been against him for months now.
I am still very afraid to venture out on the streets or return to my house in Gopalgarh. Those who had attacked me warned before they left that they would repeat this if I returned. I have not been able to register a complaint even, Rashid said. He showed some scars,a lump on his left temple,a wound on his elbow and bruises on his back.
Rashids brother Ali,who runs a mobile phone shop,maintained that it was the assault on his brother that provoked the Meo community.
The actual feud is over a piece of land,which we believe is a cemetery and the Gurjjars claim is a watering hole. Though tensions were high,the issue was taken to court on September 11 and both sides had calmed down. But a day before the riots,a group of Gurjjar miscreants attacked my brother, Ali said.
He added that news of the attack spread from village to village,and the next day Meos from all neighbouring villages reached Gopalgarh.
According to Gopalgarh police,of the five FIRs registered in the aftermath of the incident,the one against Rashid is the only one to mention a name; the others only mention groups,mobs and communities.
A senior police officer said,We have registered a complaint against one Abdul Rashid,who we believe on the day of the riots made provocative speeches from the masjid. It was outside this masjid that police fired into a gathering of Meos.
Rashid,speaking while constantly shooting around nervous glances,recalled,I had finished my prayers that September 13 afternoon and was returning home on my motorcycle. As I reached home,I saw a group of men waiting with lathis. The pushed me off the motorcycle and tried to beat me.
Rashid said that he managed to fend off the initial blows and began running towards a cluster of Meo Muslim homes for protection.
Ali said the attackers ran after his brother,swinging their lathis at him.
He was running and they kept hitting him. Some of us saw the scene and called for help. After running about 500 metres,my brother reached some Meo homes from where youths came out to help.
The assailants then scattered and fled,but vandalised Rashids motorcycle and his mobile shop,Ali said.
Ali said he was at the police station meeting with the Gurjjars to sort out the attack on his brother the next day,when things suddenly escalated.
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