India: Minority panel junks NHRC’s Kairana report on Hindu exodus

The Times of India

Minority panel junks NHRC’s Kairana report on Hindu exodus

Uday Rana | TNN | Updated: Oct 18, 2016, 03:06 IST
MEERUT: A team from the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) that visited Kairana on Monday trashed the recent National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report which said there had been an "exodus" of Hindu families from the restive western UP town due to fear of members of a particular community in the area.

The NCM team, led by member-in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Farida Abdullah Khan, told TOI that certain findings in the NHRC report "seemed baseless". She said, "We met some local families and spoke to the local administration. We found that there was no evidence to suggest there had been an exodus of any kind. I don't wish to comment on the NHRC report too much, but some of the findings seem baseless."

NHRC in its report on the alleged exodus of 250 Hindu families from Kairana, in Shamli district, had all but validated what BJP MP Hukum Singh had initially said. "At least 24 witnesses stated that the youths of the specific majority community (Muslims in this case) in Kairana pass lewd/taunting remarks against the females of the specific minority community in the town. Due to this, females of the specific minority community (Hindus) in Kairana town avoid going outside. However, they could not gather courage to report the matter to the police," the report said.

Khan said the NCM team didn't find much evidence to back the NHRC claim. "For instance, the (NHRC) report claims that the rise in crime in Kairana was linked to the resettlement of refugees. There is no paperwork that can verify this. It also said that the riot-displaced persons changed the demographics of the town since about 30,000 people came and settled here. However, local NGOs said the figure in Kairana is not more than 200 people."

Slamming what she called a "blatant attempt at polarisation", Khan said, "The local MP's comments are a clear attempt at politicising a sensitive matter." Singh had alleged that Kairana had become a "new Kashmir", with the exodus of 250 Hindu families after being allegedly targeted and persecuted by another community.