Journalism of Courage
Muzaffarnagar district is back on the boil. Almost two months after a Jat mahapanchayat is reported to have sparked off a wave of violence and exodus, a similar incident threatens a repeat.
This time,after three Muslim youths from Hussainpura were killed on Wednesday night following a clash with the neighbouring village of Mohammadpur-Raisingh,the community has warned the district administration that it will hold a mahapanchayat on November 7 if all the culprits are not brought to book. Police sources said the three youths Ajmal,Meherban and Afroz were trying to flee when they were caught by a mob and beaten to death.
On September 7,a Jat mahapanchayat was called to force the same administration into action over a triple murder in Kawaal village. Then,two Jats reportedly killed a Muslim after he harassed a relative,and the Muslims allegedly retailiated by lynching his killers. After a Jat convoy was attacked on September 7,violence swept the region,leaving over 60 dead,many more injured and thousands homeless.
The kind of incident which happened yesterday can definitely be attributed to lapses on the part of the police due to which some people dared to do this (violence). We will take strong action, state Director General of Police,Devraj Nagar,said Thursday.
However,the police and district administration seemed to have learned valuable lessons from the earlier violence. As soon as the incident was reported,several police personnel were deployed to the spot along with paramilitary personnel. They were deployed around sensitive villages and arterial roads. Also,the police arrested eight persons within one hour of the FIR being registered, said Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma.
Police sources asserted that more arrests could have been made if residents of Hussainpura had not organised protests at the Budhana police station. Hundreds of angry villagers surrounded the Budhana police station just as police were combing Mohammadpur-Raisingh for suspects. The police had to rush to the Budhana police station to control the situation,by which time several suspects had fled the village, said a senior police official. He added that the three victims had been beaten to death with sticks and farm implements,and Ajmal even suffered a bullet injury.
Following reports of fresh violence in the region,senior police officials from surrounding districts rushed to Muzaffarnagar. Several IPS officers were sent to Muzaffarnagar to help contain the situation. This did not happen in time after the September 7 incident, said a senior police official.
Meanwhile,in the villages of Hussainpura and Mohammadpur-Raisingh,the fear is palpable. The memory of the recent violence is fresh and the events that led up to it similar contradictory versions of the events from the two villages and a police force struggling to get to the truth and prevent untoward incidents.
Shahnawaz,husband of the Hussainpura village pradhan,said he was alerted at around 6 pm. We were all in the village when someone from the sugarcane fields came shouting for help. He said three youths,all my relatives,had been attacked by Jats from the adjacent village. We called the police and rushed to the fields, he said.
He said they could not find the three victims in the fields. Another youth managed to escape from the mob and he told the police that the trio had been taken to Mohammadpur-Raisingh village. On reaching the village,the police found the three bodies. They had all been beaten to death, alleged Shahnawaz.
Thousands of Muslims gathered at Hussainpura on Thursday to bury the latest casualties of the violence-torn region.
In Mohammadpur-Raisingh,few have dared to venture out of their houses. Rajendra Singh from our village was attacked on Wednesday night when he was farming. He managed to escape and return to the village. People gathered and went to the spot with a squad of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) which is posted here, said Sunita,a resident. She said the two groups then clashed.
Singhs wife Kavita asserted that the other side had attacked first. My husband was in the fields when they attacked. He was seriously injured. The police came last night and,on the pretext of taking him to the hospital,arrested him. I dont know where he is or how he his, she alleged. She added that the police had raided the village late at night and arrested several people.
According to Kavita,Singh is the last male member of the family. His brothers Narender and Harender were killed in 1998 and 2006 over a land dispute with people from Hussainpura. Now he has been arrested and there are no men left in the house. We have requested the police for security in this village, she said.
But the Muzaffarnagar police remained tight-lipped. A senior police official only said that eight of the 14 named in the FIR have been arrested. We are investigating the incident and it is too early to determine what happened. Eight have been arrested and we are searching for the remaining, he said. He added that paramilitary forces including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and PAC had been deployed in both the villages and the surrounding area to prevent any untoward incidents.
