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Showing posts with label Indore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indore. Show all posts
January 10, 2024
March 18, 2017
India: Police seize detonators, gelatine rods from temple godown in Indore
The Times of India
Representative image.
Devki, who is a temple priest, during interrogations, claimed that he had no idea who stocked the explosives in the storage room.
"It has come to fore that the room is accessible to several persons of the temple and they have a key to it. Anyone could have stocked the explosives in the room. We are questioning the locals in the area and others to know more about the case," Rupesh Dwivedi, ASP told TOI. Malharganj police also claimed that there was a dispute regarding the temple land and there was a possibility that someone had stacked the explosives in the room to falsely implicate the temple priest.
Police seize detonators, gelatine rods from temple godown in Indore
Karishma Kotwal | TNN | Mar 17, 2017, 10.40 PM ISTRepresentative image.
INDORE: Malharganj police seized a large stock of illegal explosive materials
from a godown in Kandilpura area on Friday. More than 45 detonators and
30 gelatin rods were seized from the godown of a temple.
Police ruled out misuse of explosives for extremist activities. They said the accused might have stocked the explosives for stone quarries but the storage is also illegal.
Police said the raids were conducted after crime branch had received the information from a local about explosives being stocked illegally in the store room of the temple.
The police team inspected a store room near the temple where they found electric detonators hidden without proper documents. The owner of the godown Devki Nandan was also questioned by the police.
Police ruled out misuse of explosives for extremist activities. They said the accused might have stocked the explosives for stone quarries but the storage is also illegal.
Police said the raids were conducted after crime branch had received the information from a local about explosives being stocked illegally in the store room of the temple.
The police team inspected a store room near the temple where they found electric detonators hidden without proper documents. The owner of the godown Devki Nandan was also questioned by the police.
Devki, who is a temple priest, during interrogations, claimed that he had no idea who stocked the explosives in the storage room.
"It has come to fore that the room is accessible to several persons of the temple and they have a key to it. Anyone could have stocked the explosives in the room. We are questioning the locals in the area and others to know more about the case," Rupesh Dwivedi, ASP told TOI. Malharganj police also claimed that there was a dispute regarding the temple land and there was a possibility that someone had stacked the explosives in the room to falsely implicate the temple priest.
April 06, 2015
October 13, 2014
India - Jobat: A hate story (Milind Ghatwai)
Indian Express
Jobat: A hate story
Written by Milind Ghatwai | Posted: October 12, 2014 12:30 am | Updated: October 12, 2014 8:13 am
Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani’s ‘marriage’ was ‘invalidated’ after 5 days in this MP town with rising Hindu right-wing activism. With police citing a court order, the two don’t know where to go for answers, says Milind Ghatwai
Kiya hai to poora karenge (If I’ve loved, I’ll go the distance),” says Joseph Pawar, speaking at an undisclosed location in Indore. That’s what Ayushi Wani, 35 km away at a shelter home in Ujjain, is counting on.
‘Married’ for five days, the 22-year-old Christian youth and the 19-year-old Hindu girl were separated forcibly on October 1 and their wedding declared “invalid” after Hindu right-wing activists took to the streets protesting against the alliance. Ayushi refused to go back to her parents while Joseph was taken away and warned not to return to his hometown Jobat. Ten days later, they fail to understand why it turned out like this.
It was four years ago that the affair began, when Ayushi and Joseph were together at a coaching institute in Jobat. The two went to great lengths to hide it from their families. More than the fact that they belong to different religions, they worried about the reaction of others. Jobat is largely a town of traders, about 200 km from the nearest big city of Indore. For its population of around 20,000, nearly 18,000 of whom are Hindus, the Thursday haat is the most exciting part of their week. Everybody knows almost everybody and social pressure can be hard to fight.
A decade ago, the region had seen the campaign of the BJP and other Hindu fundamentalist organisations against alleged conversion of tribals to Christianity by missionaries using money and other enticements.
Ayushi and Joseph had heard about the tension in the town at the time. So, they hardly met outside the coaching institute, staying in touch over the phone.
Often, the difference between their families would come up for discussion — his being poor and simple, hers aggressive because of their relative wealth.
Around a year ago, they started talking of taking the next step. Ayushi was entering the final year of her B.Sc. at a Jobat college, while Joseph had begun a General Nursing Midwifery course at Indore’s Index Nursing College.
By then, their families had discovered their relationship. While Joseph’s sisters got around to accepting Ayushi, her family said a straight no. They also started pressuring her to marry a person they had identified.
On September 25, the two slipped out of their respective colleges and ran away to Bhopal, where they got married at an Arya Samaj temple.
The same day, after Ayushi didn’t return from college, her family lodged a case of kidnapping against Joseph. Soon, members of the RSS and Hindu Jagaran Manch started protests, threatening to launch an indefinite bandh if the couple were not traced by October 1.
They demanded that Joseph be arrested and that force be used to get Ayushi back to her parents.
In the afternoon of October 1, Ayushi and Joseph, who had been traced to Bhopal, “surrendered” at the office of the Superintendent of Police, Alirajpur. By then, tension had spread from Jobat to this place 35 km away. With hundreds of Hindu right-wing activists gheraoing the Alirajpur SP’s office, the police, under pressure, declared the marriage “invalid”, arguing that Joseph was not a Hindu and the rituals at the Arya Samaj temple meant nothing.
When Ayushi refused to go back to her parents, the protesters demanded that Joseph convert to Hinduism, under the Freedom of Religion Act that mandates a one-month prior notice before conversion. Her parents were present at the SP’s office; his relatives were not informed, though his sisters reached on their own after hearing about what had happened.
Ayushi was driven in a police jeep to Ujjain, and moved into a shelter home run by an NGO under a government scheme. Suspecting threat to his life, police kept Joseph in custody before escorting him to Indore to a relative’s place in the wee hours of the following day, accompanied by his two sisters. Joseph was told not to return to Jobat.
Alirajpur became a district only in 2008 and has only two Assembly seats, Alirajpur and Jobat, both represented by BJP MLAs. The municipal bodies and cooperative societies in Jobat are all controlled by the BJP.
The town has less than 1,000 Christians and only slightly more Muslims. Among the Hindus, the dominating communities are Wanis and Rathods. The Wanis are mostly traders or advocates.
Amkut, a village in Alirajpur, last saw violence in 2004 after a minor girl’s body was found on the premises of the CNI Church. Jobat MLA Madho Singh Dawar claims there have been sporadic incidents since then.
Joseph’s house is located right behind the church, which is now under police protection.
He is the only son and the youngest of four siblings. Their father Sunny Jacob passed away last December, while their mother, who is paralysed, moved out of town following the protests. Joseph and his sisters had a difficult childhood as Jacob, partially disabled, struggled to make ends meet from the earnings from his flour mill.
“Our father was a simple man. He never ventured out because of his disability,” says Savita Singh, Joseph’s sister.
All the three sisters work as nurses, and helped fund Joseph’s education. They had been planning to send Joseph to London to join his eldest sister’s husband, who is also in the same profession.
While Savita works as a nurse at a government hospital in Jobat, her husband Nigam Raymond owns a poultry farm and some agricultural land. He had sought a Congress ticket in the Assembly elections of 2013 and later tried to fight as an Independent.
Less than a kilometre away lives Ayushi’s family, among the more affluent families of Jobat. Her father Rajkumar Wani runs two adjacent cloth showrooms from the ground floor of his house. Ayushi, who has done her entire education in Jobat, has two younger sisters.
Joseph’s sisters say they are surprised at the courage he has shown under pressure. Overweight as a child, he faced constant teasing.
The name he was given then, ‘Dumdum’, stuck on into youth, while on his Facebook page, he appears as a lanky youth with many posts on facing separation and opposition in love. The only departures are a photograph of a suicide note with a girl’s slit wrist next to it, and Amitabh Bachchan aiming a pistol into the camera with ‘DON’ written underneath.
Since October 1, his Facebook page has been drawing only insults. “Jobat ke Hindu uska intzaar kar rahe hein. Yuva Sena pooch rahi laal top kha bhag gaya (The Hindus of Jobat are waiting for him. The Yuva Sena is asking whether he fled after the protest),” wrote Ashish Rathod in separate messages.
When Joseph posted a video and photograph of his wedding ceremony, he was swamped by threats. “I deleted the post,” Joseph says. Ironically, he smiles, he had very few friends and most of them were Hindus.
Seeing him face such anger, Savita says: “Joseph is so timid that even the idea of an electric current makes him fearful. I don’t know how and where his affair began.”
Talking about the day they were brought back to Jobat and separated, Joseph says: “The protesters kept talking only about religion and caste.”
Adding that his love gives him strength, he says: “They pelted stones at my house in Jobat and threatened to burn the church. My sisters received threats to their lives. But I am not going to budge. I want to be with Ayushi.”
Pointing out that police did not even call them to Alirajpur after the couple “surrendered”, Savita says: “In what capacity were the RSS, Bajrang Dal and BJP members intervening?”
Savita tried to make the same argument at the SP’s office, reasoning with the protesters that Christians had not taken to the streets when there were cases of Christian women marrying Hindu men. She says a “leader” told her: “That’s your problem. You should have protested. Then this (Joseph’s marriage) would not have happened.”
That was the first time the sisters actually met Ayushi, though they had seen her fleetingly around town. Savita was impressed. “My brother may waiver, but Ayushi won’t. She is such a bold girl,” says Savita.
However, while Joseph’s sisters have accepted Ayushi, her family shows no signs of relenting. Her distraught father Rajkumar says he wants her to marry within the community. “We will wait for her to return to her senses. She even refused to recognise me at the SP office. Let her spend a few days away and she will realise her mistake,” says the father, adding that Ayushi’s mother is inconsolable and her blood pressure has shot up.
Ask him why they are opposed to Joseph, and the Wanis say while they are “pure vegetarian”, his family eats “mutton and fish”. Adds Rajkumar,
“Had we known of her affair, we would have long nipped it in the bud.”
More than the Wanis, though, it is Hindu right-wing activists who are in the forefront of the protests, insisting on talking on behalf of the family.
“Christians are bad people,” says Shailesh Wani, a right-wing activist who claims to be Ayushi’s cousin. “They roam around doing nothing. Joseph does not earn anything. If his sisters stop giving him pocket money, how will he and Ayushi survive?”
Vani also demands action against the Arya Samaj. “Shouldn’t they be banned for conducting such marriages despite the court judgment?” he asks.
Other activists allege that unions like the one between Joseph and Ayushi are a conspiracy to increase the Christian population. While Ayushi is an adult now, she was “brainwashed” when she was 15 or 16, they allege.
Jobat MLA Madho Singh Dawar backs the charges, accusing Christians of luring away Hindu girls. “Inka kaam hi hai (that’s what they do),” he says. When asked about relationships between Hindu boys and Christian girls, he says, “The boys don’t marry, but just ‘keep’ the girls.”
It is statements such as these that worry CNI pastor Emmanuel Ariel. “The right-wing groups feel emboldened now, thinking they won’t be harmed either by the state or Centre. The Congress used to comment on such matters before but after losing elections, they have stopped raising their voice. There’s no one to keep such groups in check.”
The pastor, who sought police protection, says the activists threatened to harm the church. Wary of the fallout on the larger community, the church didn’t get involved, he says. “Even we are against inter-religious marriages because they create friction. But Hindu right-wing activists should have protested before Joseph’s house and not before the church. We did not want to get involved because it concerns an individual, not the community.”
The spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Madhya Pradesh, Fr Johny P J, however, asks how the police can declare a marriage between two adults invalid. Even the Church conducts such marriages without asking for caste certificates, he says. “The only condition is that children born out of wedlock are raised in the Christian faith.”
Retired district judge Renu Sharma backs this, saying only courts can declare a marriage valid or invalid. “Police may have segregated the couple to restore law and order, but the girl, who is a major, was free to go anywhere. There was no offence even if the marriage was declared invalid,” she notes.
Even if the high court has issued a guideline for marriages at Arya Samaj temples, and the procedure was not followed in this case, only courts can take a call on the matter, not police, she adds.
Joseph’s family is thinking about moving the Madhya Pradesh High Court to seek Ayushi’s custody. Joseph claims that after the marriage at the Arya Samaj temple, they had also gone to the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to get it registered, suggesting it made it legal.
He won’t talk about whether he would convert to Hinduism, as demanded by the Hindu right-wing.
Ayushi says he doesn’t need to, just so to please others. “What right do they have to interfere?” she adds, talking about the protesters, some of whom even threw stones as she was being taken away from the SP’s office in a police jeep.
Sharing space at the shelter home with two minors whose partners are in jail on “kidnapping” charges, Ayushi says: “Some of them used to tease me by dropping hints about our affair. I knew something would go wrong, but did not imagine things would come to such a pass.”
When she refused to return to her parents, her relatives and the activists told her Joseph could never provide for her, and that he lived on Rs 2,000 given to him by his sisters. Ayushi says money does not matter to her and that she would rather live with Joseph than go back to her parents who, according to her, want her to marry someone else. “They would have confined me to the house and never allowed me to step out again.”
Smiling and crying in equal measure, Ayushi points out that she has neither the clothes nor the jewellery of a new bride. But she is resolute that she took the right step. Had she kept mum before the police or gone back to her parents, she fears what the protesters would have done to Joseph. “They wanted me to implicate him… They want Joseph behind bars,” she says.
Both Ayushi and Joseph worry about the future, and how they would find a way back together from where they are now. “I never thought something like this would happen to me,” says Joseph.
Ayushi stresses she is ready to “do anything to go back to him”. And, if that is what it takes, “I am ready to practise both religions.”
THE LAWS
Freedom of Religion Act
An amended form of the previous anti-conversion legislation. The new law, brought in the state by the BJP after it came to power, requires those seeking to convert and the priest presiding over the conversion to notify a district magistrate a month in advance. The police station concerned then has to find out if force was used or money offered for conversion, on the basis of which the district magistrate would allow conversion.
Arya Samaj order
In May 2013, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued guidelines for the Arya Samaj management to follow before allowing weddings on their premises. Arguing that marriages without parents’ consent were creating social problems, the court said the management should take written applications from a would-be bride and groom, before fixing the wedding date for a week later. The management should then inform the parents, through registered intimation, the date and venue of the proposed ceremony, and five relatives each from both sides should be present for it. The court also ordered that the police station and collector of the district where the groom and bride live should also be notified.
Special Marriage Act
A Central legislation, it allows couples to marry irrespective of the religion they belong to. Under it, marriage is a contract. Once the couple apply, a notice, inviting objections within a month, is displayed at the office of the collector concerned.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/jobat-a-hate-story/
Jobat: A hate story
Written by Milind Ghatwai | Posted: October 12, 2014 12:30 am | Updated: October 12, 2014 8:13 am
Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani’s ‘marriage’ was ‘invalidated’ after 5 days in this MP town with rising Hindu right-wing activism. With police citing a court order, the two don’t know where to go for answers, says Milind Ghatwai
Kiya hai to poora karenge (If I’ve loved, I’ll go the distance),” says Joseph Pawar, speaking at an undisclosed location in Indore. That’s what Ayushi Wani, 35 km away at a shelter home in Ujjain, is counting on.
‘Married’ for five days, the 22-year-old Christian youth and the 19-year-old Hindu girl were separated forcibly on October 1 and their wedding declared “invalid” after Hindu right-wing activists took to the streets protesting against the alliance. Ayushi refused to go back to her parents while Joseph was taken away and warned not to return to his hometown Jobat. Ten days later, they fail to understand why it turned out like this.
It was four years ago that the affair began, when Ayushi and Joseph were together at a coaching institute in Jobat. The two went to great lengths to hide it from their families. More than the fact that they belong to different religions, they worried about the reaction of others. Jobat is largely a town of traders, about 200 km from the nearest big city of Indore. For its population of around 20,000, nearly 18,000 of whom are Hindus, the Thursday haat is the most exciting part of their week. Everybody knows almost everybody and social pressure can be hard to fight.
A decade ago, the region had seen the campaign of the BJP and other Hindu fundamentalist organisations against alleged conversion of tribals to Christianity by missionaries using money and other enticements.
Ayushi and Joseph had heard about the tension in the town at the time. So, they hardly met outside the coaching institute, staying in touch over the phone.
Often, the difference between their families would come up for discussion — his being poor and simple, hers aggressive because of their relative wealth.
Around a year ago, they started talking of taking the next step. Ayushi was entering the final year of her B.Sc. at a Jobat college, while Joseph had begun a General Nursing Midwifery course at Indore’s Index Nursing College.
By then, their families had discovered their relationship. While Joseph’s sisters got around to accepting Ayushi, her family said a straight no. They also started pressuring her to marry a person they had identified.
On September 25, the two slipped out of their respective colleges and ran away to Bhopal, where they got married at an Arya Samaj temple.
The same day, after Ayushi didn’t return from college, her family lodged a case of kidnapping against Joseph. Soon, members of the RSS and Hindu Jagaran Manch started protests, threatening to launch an indefinite bandh if the couple were not traced by October 1.
They demanded that Joseph be arrested and that force be used to get Ayushi back to her parents.
In the afternoon of October 1, Ayushi and Joseph, who had been traced to Bhopal, “surrendered” at the office of the Superintendent of Police, Alirajpur. By then, tension had spread from Jobat to this place 35 km away. With hundreds of Hindu right-wing activists gheraoing the Alirajpur SP’s office, the police, under pressure, declared the marriage “invalid”, arguing that Joseph was not a Hindu and the rituals at the Arya Samaj temple meant nothing.
When Ayushi refused to go back to her parents, the protesters demanded that Joseph convert to Hinduism, under the Freedom of Religion Act that mandates a one-month prior notice before conversion. Her parents were present at the SP’s office; his relatives were not informed, though his sisters reached on their own after hearing about what had happened.
Ayushi was driven in a police jeep to Ujjain, and moved into a shelter home run by an NGO under a government scheme. Suspecting threat to his life, police kept Joseph in custody before escorting him to Indore to a relative’s place in the wee hours of the following day, accompanied by his two sisters. Joseph was told not to return to Jobat.
Alirajpur became a district only in 2008 and has only two Assembly seats, Alirajpur and Jobat, both represented by BJP MLAs. The municipal bodies and cooperative societies in Jobat are all controlled by the BJP.
The town has less than 1,000 Christians and only slightly more Muslims. Among the Hindus, the dominating communities are Wanis and Rathods. The Wanis are mostly traders or advocates.
Amkut, a village in Alirajpur, last saw violence in 2004 after a minor girl’s body was found on the premises of the CNI Church. Jobat MLA Madho Singh Dawar claims there have been sporadic incidents since then.
Joseph’s house is located right behind the church, which is now under police protection.
He is the only son and the youngest of four siblings. Their father Sunny Jacob passed away last December, while their mother, who is paralysed, moved out of town following the protests. Joseph and his sisters had a difficult childhood as Jacob, partially disabled, struggled to make ends meet from the earnings from his flour mill.
“Our father was a simple man. He never ventured out because of his disability,” says Savita Singh, Joseph’s sister.
All the three sisters work as nurses, and helped fund Joseph’s education. They had been planning to send Joseph to London to join his eldest sister’s husband, who is also in the same profession.
While Savita works as a nurse at a government hospital in Jobat, her husband Nigam Raymond owns a poultry farm and some agricultural land. He had sought a Congress ticket in the Assembly elections of 2013 and later tried to fight as an Independent.
Less than a kilometre away lives Ayushi’s family, among the more affluent families of Jobat. Her father Rajkumar Wani runs two adjacent cloth showrooms from the ground floor of his house. Ayushi, who has done her entire education in Jobat, has two younger sisters.
Joseph’s sisters say they are surprised at the courage he has shown under pressure. Overweight as a child, he faced constant teasing.
The name he was given then, ‘Dumdum’, stuck on into youth, while on his Facebook page, he appears as a lanky youth with many posts on facing separation and opposition in love. The only departures are a photograph of a suicide note with a girl’s slit wrist next to it, and Amitabh Bachchan aiming a pistol into the camera with ‘DON’ written underneath.
Since October 1, his Facebook page has been drawing only insults. “Jobat ke Hindu uska intzaar kar rahe hein. Yuva Sena pooch rahi laal top kha bhag gaya (The Hindus of Jobat are waiting for him. The Yuva Sena is asking whether he fled after the protest),” wrote Ashish Rathod in separate messages.
When Joseph posted a video and photograph of his wedding ceremony, he was swamped by threats. “I deleted the post,” Joseph says. Ironically, he smiles, he had very few friends and most of them were Hindus.
Seeing him face such anger, Savita says: “Joseph is so timid that even the idea of an electric current makes him fearful. I don’t know how and where his affair began.”
Talking about the day they were brought back to Jobat and separated, Joseph says: “The protesters kept talking only about religion and caste.”
Adding that his love gives him strength, he says: “They pelted stones at my house in Jobat and threatened to burn the church. My sisters received threats to their lives. But I am not going to budge. I want to be with Ayushi.”
Pointing out that police did not even call them to Alirajpur after the couple “surrendered”, Savita says: “In what capacity were the RSS, Bajrang Dal and BJP members intervening?”
Savita tried to make the same argument at the SP’s office, reasoning with the protesters that Christians had not taken to the streets when there were cases of Christian women marrying Hindu men. She says a “leader” told her: “That’s your problem. You should have protested. Then this (Joseph’s marriage) would not have happened.”
That was the first time the sisters actually met Ayushi, though they had seen her fleetingly around town. Savita was impressed. “My brother may waiver, but Ayushi won’t. She is such a bold girl,” says Savita.
However, while Joseph’s sisters have accepted Ayushi, her family shows no signs of relenting. Her distraught father Rajkumar says he wants her to marry within the community. “We will wait for her to return to her senses. She even refused to recognise me at the SP office. Let her spend a few days away and she will realise her mistake,” says the father, adding that Ayushi’s mother is inconsolable and her blood pressure has shot up.
Ask him why they are opposed to Joseph, and the Wanis say while they are “pure vegetarian”, his family eats “mutton and fish”. Adds Rajkumar,
“Had we known of her affair, we would have long nipped it in the bud.”
More than the Wanis, though, it is Hindu right-wing activists who are in the forefront of the protests, insisting on talking on behalf of the family.
“Christians are bad people,” says Shailesh Wani, a right-wing activist who claims to be Ayushi’s cousin. “They roam around doing nothing. Joseph does not earn anything. If his sisters stop giving him pocket money, how will he and Ayushi survive?”
Vani also demands action against the Arya Samaj. “Shouldn’t they be banned for conducting such marriages despite the court judgment?” he asks.
Other activists allege that unions like the one between Joseph and Ayushi are a conspiracy to increase the Christian population. While Ayushi is an adult now, she was “brainwashed” when she was 15 or 16, they allege.
Jobat MLA Madho Singh Dawar backs the charges, accusing Christians of luring away Hindu girls. “Inka kaam hi hai (that’s what they do),” he says. When asked about relationships between Hindu boys and Christian girls, he says, “The boys don’t marry, but just ‘keep’ the girls.”
It is statements such as these that worry CNI pastor Emmanuel Ariel. “The right-wing groups feel emboldened now, thinking they won’t be harmed either by the state or Centre. The Congress used to comment on such matters before but after losing elections, they have stopped raising their voice. There’s no one to keep such groups in check.”
The pastor, who sought police protection, says the activists threatened to harm the church. Wary of the fallout on the larger community, the church didn’t get involved, he says. “Even we are against inter-religious marriages because they create friction. But Hindu right-wing activists should have protested before Joseph’s house and not before the church. We did not want to get involved because it concerns an individual, not the community.”
The spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Madhya Pradesh, Fr Johny P J, however, asks how the police can declare a marriage between two adults invalid. Even the Church conducts such marriages without asking for caste certificates, he says. “The only condition is that children born out of wedlock are raised in the Christian faith.”
Retired district judge Renu Sharma backs this, saying only courts can declare a marriage valid or invalid. “Police may have segregated the couple to restore law and order, but the girl, who is a major, was free to go anywhere. There was no offence even if the marriage was declared invalid,” she notes.
Even if the high court has issued a guideline for marriages at Arya Samaj temples, and the procedure was not followed in this case, only courts can take a call on the matter, not police, she adds.
Joseph’s family is thinking about moving the Madhya Pradesh High Court to seek Ayushi’s custody. Joseph claims that after the marriage at the Arya Samaj temple, they had also gone to the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to get it registered, suggesting it made it legal.
He won’t talk about whether he would convert to Hinduism, as demanded by the Hindu right-wing.
Ayushi says he doesn’t need to, just so to please others. “What right do they have to interfere?” she adds, talking about the protesters, some of whom even threw stones as she was being taken away from the SP’s office in a police jeep.
Sharing space at the shelter home with two minors whose partners are in jail on “kidnapping” charges, Ayushi says: “Some of them used to tease me by dropping hints about our affair. I knew something would go wrong, but did not imagine things would come to such a pass.”
When she refused to return to her parents, her relatives and the activists told her Joseph could never provide for her, and that he lived on Rs 2,000 given to him by his sisters. Ayushi says money does not matter to her and that she would rather live with Joseph than go back to her parents who, according to her, want her to marry someone else. “They would have confined me to the house and never allowed me to step out again.”
Smiling and crying in equal measure, Ayushi points out that she has neither the clothes nor the jewellery of a new bride. But she is resolute that she took the right step. Had she kept mum before the police or gone back to her parents, she fears what the protesters would have done to Joseph. “They wanted me to implicate him… They want Joseph behind bars,” she says.
Both Ayushi and Joseph worry about the future, and how they would find a way back together from where they are now. “I never thought something like this would happen to me,” says Joseph.
Ayushi stresses she is ready to “do anything to go back to him”. And, if that is what it takes, “I am ready to practise both religions.”
THE LAWS
Freedom of Religion Act
An amended form of the previous anti-conversion legislation. The new law, brought in the state by the BJP after it came to power, requires those seeking to convert and the priest presiding over the conversion to notify a district magistrate a month in advance. The police station concerned then has to find out if force was used or money offered for conversion, on the basis of which the district magistrate would allow conversion.
Arya Samaj order
In May 2013, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued guidelines for the Arya Samaj management to follow before allowing weddings on their premises. Arguing that marriages without parents’ consent were creating social problems, the court said the management should take written applications from a would-be bride and groom, before fixing the wedding date for a week later. The management should then inform the parents, through registered intimation, the date and venue of the proposed ceremony, and five relatives each from both sides should be present for it. The court also ordered that the police station and collector of the district where the groom and bride live should also be notified.
Special Marriage Act
A Central legislation, it allows couples to marry irrespective of the religion they belong to. Under it, marriage is a contract. Once the couple apply, a notice, inviting objections within a month, is displayed at the office of the collector concerned.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/jobat-a-hate-story/
August 20, 2013
India: With election on the horizon the season for communal riots has begun - Now communal violence in Indore
From: Times of India
Curfew in parts of Indore after communal tension
Bagish K Jha, TNN | Aug 20, 2013
INDORE: Nearly 35 people including senior police officials sustained injury during communal tension in ChandanNagar area of Indore on Tuesday morning.
According to police a dead cow was found near a temple on Tuesday morning after which certain organisation protested in the area. The protest lef to stone pelting between two community leaving dozens injured.
Soon heavy police force was called in. Police forces had difficult time in controlling the mob. In order to control mob police fired more than 300 tear gas shell and bullet were fired.
Angry mob pelted stone over police and reports of firing from rioters are also coming. Additional SP Anil Kushwaha along with few police personnel sustained serious injuries.
Administrations says nearly 35 people have sustained injuries out of which three are reported to be serious.
It is to be noted that Chandan Nagar area was under tension for few days. Three days back two community had clashed after cricket match.
Curfew in parts of Indore after communal tension
Bagish K Jha, TNN | Aug 20, 2013
INDORE: Nearly 35 people including senior police officials sustained injury during communal tension in ChandanNagar area of Indore on Tuesday morning.
According to police a dead cow was found near a temple on Tuesday morning after which certain organisation protested in the area. The protest lef to stone pelting between two community leaving dozens injured.
Soon heavy police force was called in. Police forces had difficult time in controlling the mob. In order to control mob police fired more than 300 tear gas shell and bullet were fired.
Angry mob pelted stone over police and reports of firing from rioters are also coming. Additional SP Anil Kushwaha along with few police personnel sustained serious injuries.
Administrations says nearly 35 people have sustained injuries out of which three are reported to be serious.
It is to be noted that Chandan Nagar area was under tension for few days. Three days back two community had clashed after cricket match.
February 15, 2013
Lathi Charge as Bhojshala Puja Samiti unwilling to vacate premises
The Times of India
Bhojshala turned violent, police use lathicharge to disburse crowd
By Bagish K Jha, TNN | Feb 15, 2013, 02.19 PM IST
INDORE: Police had to use lathicharge and teargas to disperse crowd at Bhojshal on Friday at Dhar around 55km from Indore.
According to direction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Hindus were allowed to offer puja at Bhojsala from morning to 12.30pm and afterward three hours were allotted to Muslims for offering Friday prayer. But huge crowd of Hindus were pouring at the dispute site since morning and Bhojshala Puja Samiti was not ready to vacate the place for Muslim community in the afternoon, even as large number of Muslims had arrived at Bhojshala. Finally, police had to use lathicharge and teargas to disperse the crowd.
Police took five Muslims out of huge gathering inside Bhojshala in high security to allow them offer prayer.
Bhojshala was in tension for past one week as Hindus and Muslims were adamant on offering prayer on Friday which happens to be Basant Panchami.
Bhojshala turned violent, police use lathicharge to disburse crowd
By Bagish K Jha, TNN | Feb 15, 2013, 02.19 PM IST
INDORE: Police had to use lathicharge and teargas to disperse crowd at Bhojshal on Friday at Dhar around 55km from Indore.
According to direction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Hindus were allowed to offer puja at Bhojsala from morning to 12.30pm and afterward three hours were allotted to Muslims for offering Friday prayer. But huge crowd of Hindus were pouring at the dispute site since morning and Bhojshala Puja Samiti was not ready to vacate the place for Muslim community in the afternoon, even as large number of Muslims had arrived at Bhojshala. Finally, police had to use lathicharge and teargas to disperse the crowd.
Police took five Muslims out of huge gathering inside Bhojshala in high security to allow them offer prayer.
Bhojshala was in tension for past one week as Hindus and Muslims were adamant on offering prayer on Friday which happens to be Basant Panchami.
August 29, 2008
'State Ka Order Hai' - A report by Shabnam Hashmi
An Independent Fact Finding Team visited Indore on August 5, 2008 to inquire into the incidents of July 3-4, 2008 and its long term affect
The Team comprised of:
Dr Syeda Hameed: Member, Planning Commission, Govt of India
Shabnam Hashmi: Member, National Integration Council, MHA, Social Activist
The following account is compiled and written by Shabnam Hashmi on the basis on the one day visit, testimonies of the close relatives of those who died , testimonies of the injured and individual and group discussions with the local human right activists, and an analysis of the media reports of the above period which were submitted to the IFFT.
Dr Syeda Hameed as member of the Planning Commission will be looking at the long term affect of these incidents. The present account deals with the findings and recommendations.
The team visited the following areas:
Juna Risala
Sindhi Colony
Khajrana
Khajrana Village
The following victims / relatives of the victims deposed before the team:
Juna Risala
1. Nazneen- mother of the deceased Mohd Rizwan
2. Abdur Rehman- Advocate and uncle of the deceased Mohd Rizwan
3. Salman Ahmed- 18 yrs, B Com Final- Bullet Injury
4. Gulam Ahmed Khan- locality leader
5. Irshad Khan-19 yrs, bullet Injury
6. Gulrez-19 yrs- bullet injury
7. Rafik s/o victim Alla Baksh – injured- bullet injury
8. Faiz-17 yrs-s/o victim-Aijazul Hasan, bullet injury
9. Nizamuddin, Father of the deceased Zeeshan
10. Salma Parveen, Mother of the deceased Zeeshan
11. Mohd Hanif Pyare Mian employer of the deceased Zeeshanal
12. Members of the local community ( approx 40 people)
Sindhi Colony
1. Khattumal Makhija father of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
2. Sheela Devi Makhija mother of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
3. Shanker Tejwani friend of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
Khajrana
1. Mehrunnisa mother of the deceased Imran- 17 yrs
2. Abdul Rafiq father of the deceased
3. Zaibunnisa- grand mother of the deceased Imran
4. Members of the local community ( approx 10 people)
Khajrana Village
1. Nana Patel father of the deceased Anwar Patel- 19 yrs
2. Mohd Imtiaz brother of Mehmood
3. Rasheeda, Wife of Mehmood
4. Shama Bi, Mother of Mehmood
5. Members of the local community ( approx 50 people)
The team met the following officials:
District Magistrate
Superintendent of Police
Additional District Magistrate
I am writing the account of what we saw and heard. One day is neither enough to understand and grasp the intensity of any communal attack nor to share the grief of the victims. The background of the Amarnath dispute has been contributed in the report by Dr Ram Puniyani.
[. . .]
READ THE FULL TEXT
The Team comprised of:
Dr Syeda Hameed: Member, Planning Commission, Govt of India
Shabnam Hashmi: Member, National Integration Council, MHA, Social Activist
The following account is compiled and written by Shabnam Hashmi on the basis on the one day visit, testimonies of the close relatives of those who died , testimonies of the injured and individual and group discussions with the local human right activists, and an analysis of the media reports of the above period which were submitted to the IFFT.
Dr Syeda Hameed as member of the Planning Commission will be looking at the long term affect of these incidents. The present account deals with the findings and recommendations.
The team visited the following areas:
Juna Risala
Sindhi Colony
Khajrana
Khajrana Village
The following victims / relatives of the victims deposed before the team:
Juna Risala
1. Nazneen- mother of the deceased Mohd Rizwan
2. Abdur Rehman- Advocate and uncle of the deceased Mohd Rizwan
3. Salman Ahmed- 18 yrs, B Com Final- Bullet Injury
4. Gulam Ahmed Khan- locality leader
5. Irshad Khan-19 yrs, bullet Injury
6. Gulrez-19 yrs- bullet injury
7. Rafik s/o victim Alla Baksh – injured- bullet injury
8. Faiz-17 yrs-s/o victim-Aijazul Hasan, bullet injury
9. Nizamuddin, Father of the deceased Zeeshan
10. Salma Parveen, Mother of the deceased Zeeshan
11. Mohd Hanif Pyare Mian employer of the deceased Zeeshanal
12. Members of the local community ( approx 40 people)
Sindhi Colony
1. Khattumal Makhija father of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
2. Sheela Devi Makhija mother of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
3. Shanker Tejwani friend of the deceased Hem Chand Makhija
Khajrana
1. Mehrunnisa mother of the deceased Imran- 17 yrs
2. Abdul Rafiq father of the deceased
3. Zaibunnisa- grand mother of the deceased Imran
4. Members of the local community ( approx 10 people)
Khajrana Village
1. Nana Patel father of the deceased Anwar Patel- 19 yrs
2. Mohd Imtiaz brother of Mehmood
3. Rasheeda, Wife of Mehmood
4. Shama Bi, Mother of Mehmood
5. Members of the local community ( approx 50 people)
The team met the following officials:
District Magistrate
Superintendent of Police
Additional District Magistrate
I am writing the account of what we saw and heard. One day is neither enough to understand and grasp the intensity of any communal attack nor to share the grief of the victims. The background of the Amarnath dispute has been contributed in the report by Dr Ram Puniyani.
[. . .]
READ THE FULL TEXT
July 31, 2008
Indore's transition from trade union politics to communal politics
(Published in: The Economic and Political Weekly,July 26, 2008)
Communal Violence in Indore
by Jaya Mehta, Vineet Tiwari
The "Bharat bandh" of July 3 saw communal violence erupt in Indore, with the police either on the sidelines or allegedly conniving in the attacks on the minorities. A number of events preceded the flare-up. Now fear and insecurity haunt the minority areas.
In the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) call for an all-India bandh, Indore witnessed widespread violence on July 3 and 4, 2008. Eight persons died. (Seven of them were Muslims.) Many people were injured and were admitted to hospitals in a serious condition. This was just a glimpse of the communalist forces active in the town and in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Background
Indore has had a glorious past of communal harmony. The Holkar state was known for its secular and progressive rule in the region. Indore was also a major textile centre in central India. Hindu and Muslim labourers worked side by side and the working class culture constituted a major bulwark against caste and religious divides. However, the mills have closed down. Indore is no longer an industrial town. It is now a major business hub and a real estate hot spot. Trade union politics has given way to communal politics. The working class culture has been replaced by the neorich culture of shopping malls.
The town is flush with loads of unaccounted money. At the same time, unemployed youth are available in large numbers for recruitment into various activities which characterise the distorted lumpen capitalism of our time.
After the BJP government came to power in the state again in 2003 the Hindu right wing organisations geared up their activities on all fronts and the local administration supported them. 'Path sanchalans'are organised regularly by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in different parts of the town. All public parks are used for morning 'shakhas'. The premise of a girls' college has been taken over to build a temple complex. 'Surya namaskar' is compulsory in all government schools.
Communal politics has made deep inroads in the administrative setup as well as in the audiovisual and print media. Temples in the premises of police stations are a common feature.
It is in this milieu that activists from the Bajrang Dal and other allied organizations have routinely registered their rowdy presence at the railway station, at the airport, in hospitals, and of course, on the streets. The Christian and Muslim communities have been attacked innumerable times. The Muslims retaliate locally. The Christians lodge their protests in various secular forums. However, the skirmishes occur with greater frequency than before.
As a background to the violence on July 3 and 4, one needs to mention two specific occurrences during the past year.
(1) Karbala Dispute: Over the last 150 years or so Muslims have been using a particular piece of land, the Karbala ground, for their three-day long fair of Moharram. This land was given to them in 1890 by Holkar rulers. They have all the necessary proof regarding legal ownership of the land. In 2000, Bajrang Dal, RSS, VHP and BJP activists claimed that there was an old Hanuman shrine in the ground.A Hanuman idol was installed and they started worshipping there every Tuesday.
The case went to court. In 2006, the court mandated that such activity should stop. A huge protest was organised against the ruling in April 2006 and the 'aarti' continued. Taking no cognisance of the court order, the administration decided that the Hindu organisations would be allowed to perform aarti on Tuesdays and the Muslims would continue using this ground for the Moharram fair.
In 2007, Moharram fell on January 30, a Tuesday. The clashes between the two communities started 10 days in advance. Muslims were humiliated and beaten up mercilessly both by the saffron brigades and the police. One old imam in a mosque was beaten up by the police and both his legs were fractured.
On January 30, the administration decided that the Muslims would use the ground till 9 pm. After that the ground would be vacated for the Hindus to perform the aarti. The Muslims gathered on Karbala ground in a large number (about 5-10,000).
At 9 pm, a small group of Hindus reached there. The collector requested the Muslims to vacate the ground. The humiliated mass in thousands refused to vacate and were assaulted by the police. The Karbala issue has become a ready excuse for starting a confrontation at any time. The Hanuman idol is there, the mazaar or the dargaah is there in the other corner of the ground. Despite the presence of police security, the area is always tense.
(2) arrest of SImI activists: On March 27, 2008, the Madhya Pradesh police made a sensational arrest of 13 Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists, who included Safdar Nagori, the organisation's top leader and Shibly Peedical Abdul, a Kerala born computer engineer, sought by the police since 2006. The media publicity that these arrests got generated an impression in the town that many Muslims in Indore had links with the terrorist organisation. A number of innocent people have been harassed by the police in this connection.
The cases were registered in Pithampur, an industrial suburb of Indore which belongs to Dhar district. The bar council of Dhar passed a resolution that no lawyer would take up the cases of those arrested in SIMI connections. When one lawyer came forward to take up the cases he was beaten up in the court. In this way, those arrested were denied their fundamental right of defence. Incidentally, Dhar has also been experiencing communal politics since the Babri demolition. The issue of Kamaal Moula masjid and 'Bhojshala' is known to everyone.
It is against this tense background that one looks at the happenings from July 3 onwards.
Chronology of Events
The VHP and BJP gave a call to observe the Bharat bandh on July 3 to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's order revoking the transfer of 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. The local leadership of BJP and the allied organisations naturally decided to make the bandh a big success. It was an opportunity to once again demonstrate their power. As the day broke, the saffron activists unleashed a reign of terror determined to stop all routine activities and in addition harass Muslims in the town in whatever way possible. At around 10 am, the bandh supporters marched in a procession and entered the Badwali Chowki, a Muslim dominated area. They shouted provocative slogans and misbehaved with local residents. There was not enough of a police force to control the hooligans. This happened afterwards in other Muslim dominated areas - Ranipura, Lodhipura, Mukeripura, Narsinghbazar, etc.
In Khajrana area, rowdy mobs of 10-15 teenage boys spread out and attacked, with hockey sticks, Muslim men and women walking on the roads. The victims were poor labourers wanting to go for work. Two women were coming home after a funeral. All these people were stopped, their religion was ascertained by their looks or by their names, and then they were beaten up. The police did not help the victims. They were left unattended on the road. When the Muslims went to the police station, there were only a few constables present and they refused to lodge their complaint. The Muslims then attacked the police station. This was sufficient for the police to behave in the most brutal manner. The bandh supporters were there in large numbers. The local 'patidar' community arrived on the scene with private guns. Some ammunition and arms was reportedly with Muslims also. There was firing resulting in the loss of three lives. Incidentally, all the three were Muslims. In Mukeripura area, when a mob of bandh supporters were near a masjid, they shouted provocative slogans. There was stone pelting from the rooftop of a building.
The bandh supporting mob started throwing stones in retaliation. On the local television channels one could see that the police stood by helpless, unable and unwilling to stop the violence. In all, four people died in the violence which erupted in the town on July 3, 2008. Apart from three Muslims who died in Khajrana, one Sindhi Hindu youth died in Mukeripura. Local residents reported that he was playing cricket outside his house, when the saffron cadre took him to the riot affected area. He died there with head injuries. Police and district administration imposed curfew in four areas of the town.
The next day, on July 4, fresh violence erupted in many other areas and in Juna Risala, two lives were lost because of police firing. Newspapers say that Muslims coming back from the nearby masjid after 'namaz' in Juna Risala started throwing stones and petrol bombs. The police was thus forced to open fire. However, according to the residents in the area the reality was just the opposite. The Muslims werecoming back peacefully after the namaz.
A petrol bomb was thrown on a scooter standing near the masjid. It caught fire, the Muslims were agitated. The saffron squads were present on the spot. The stone throwing took place from both sides and the situation got out of control. The police resorted to teargas shells and firing almost simultaneously. The area also has police residential quarters. The Muslims threw stones and petrol bombs on those houses and people witnessed that there was firing from the roof tops and from windows of the police quarters. Two people died in the firing (both Muslims). After this, curfew was imposed in the whole town.
On July 4, when curfew was imposed in the whole town, a religious procession of Venkatesh Mandir was not stopped in the Chhatripura area. Some 3,000 people participated in the procession. It is to be noted that the procession was taken out in an area, which had witnessed rioting and killing just a day before. Sumitra Mahajan a Member of Parliament, Mahendra Hardia a legislative assembly member, and many other BJP leaders participated in this procession. The police and administration found themselves helpless. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the state government, was given the responsibility of restoring peace and order. He repeatedly alleged that SIMI has been behind this eruption of violence. The director general of police reasserted this allegation. When asked to provide satisfactory evidence, the press was informed that the police was looking for evidence.
The very next day the Pithampur police recovered four live country made bombs, eight detonators and batteries from a mine in the vicinity of the Pithampur-Rau bypass. Although the police did not explicitly connect the riots with the discovery of bombs and the detonator, all the newspapers prominently placed the two news items adjacent to each other.
The curfew continued for five days. Sewa Bharati, an RSS outfit, offered help to the curfew affected people by providing them food. Along with food, they also distributed copies of a local eveninger, which had brought out a special issue on SIMI's activities in Indore. At the same time, the Bajrang Dal activists stood outside a hospital (Rajeshri Hospital) and did not allow Muslim riot victims to be admitted there.
On July 7, 2008, the BJP leaders took out a peace march in a riot-affected area. The implicit message to the minority people was - "Look, nothing happened to us and nothing will happen to us. You be aware of our strength". The collector and superintendent of police (SP) reaffirmed the message. There are hoardings in the town asking the union government to take back the Haj facilities from Muslims. The Congress leaders came and took the BJP, RSS and district administration to task. They addressed the press and raised a big protest in the assembly at Bhopal. With the elections approaching, the focus will soon shift from providing real justice to the victims to collecting votes.
After five days of curfew the town limped back to normalcy. Like Ahmedabad, Indore is also divided into two. The Muslim majority areas are simmering with anger and a sense of terrible insecurity. These areas are still under police guard. In many households the earning members are still not able to resume their work. The other side has resumed its normal life. The middle class Hindu community blames the Muslims for the disturbance in the town. The Hindu right wing activists go on with the refrain that they wanted a peaceful bandh; it is because of the noncooperation of Muslim community at large and the militancy of SIMI activists that bloodshed occurred.
Administration and Police
Both the collector and SP in the town took charge just about a month before the violence. The administration was admittedly unprepared for the violence which erupted in the wake of the bandh call. The police force recruited in the sensitive Muslim majority areas was inadequate and did precious little to confront the saffron squads harassing the Muslim families.
On July 4, the Khajrana area was under curfew. The police van arrived there on the pretext of guarding the streets under curfew and entered the Muslim residential area. Reportedly, the police force went on a rampage without any provocation from any quarter. The police threw stones at Muslim houses and vehicles parked in the street.
There is the more serious question of police opening fire at Khajrana on July 3 and at Juna Risala on July 4. The Muslims in Juna Risala refused to perform the last rites of the dead, till the first information reports (FIRs) were lodged against three policemen. Reportedly, even though the FIRs have been lodged, no action has been taken against them. On the other hand, the bandh supporters demanded that the FIRs be taken back. Any action against these policemen would bring down the morale of the entire police force, it is said.
The story of police action in Khajrana is even more sinister. One 17 year old boy Imran was going for work. When he saw the crowd in front of police station, he turned back to go home. According to his 14 year old younger brother, a policeman caught him, dragged him down to the ground, put the gun on his face, pulled the trigger and walked away. The mother found the body in the city hospital.
Till now, in communal conflicts, private parties were attacking each other with sticks, stones, knives and other such weapons. This is the first time that private guns have been used on such a large scale. Apart from those who died in firing, a large number of wounded persons suffered from bullet injuries. It needs to be investigated how many licences were issued lately for fire arms and to whom.
Media
Most of the pictures in the newspapers, or footage given on TV showed the Muslim boys and youth with beards and caps throwing stones or shouting. It is clear where the cameramen were and when these photographs were taken. The cameramen stood on the other side, i e, the side of the BJP-VHP people. Channels were continuously showing the scenes of violence for next two to three days after the incident with the label "live".
Once curfew was declared and rioting stopped, the media started reporting in great detail how people (the middle class) were passing their time during the curfew - playing cricket in the streets or inside the compounds of their multistoried buildings; men were cooking some special dishes, or, watching TV with the family or playing cards, etc. The media reported how marriages were organised under the curfew, and so on. The BJP leaders were projected as peaceseeking people appealing to the public to calm down. They led massive peace rallies. Little space was left for reporting the plight of those poor families whose near ones had died or those who were lying in hospitals. There was no effort in the media to mobilise public opinion to take action against the culprits of this crime. In fact, as already mentioned, the media collaborated in diverting attention to SIMI involvement.
Conclusions
The July 3 Bharat bandh for Amarnath shrine land was only an excuse. Any odd excuse can cause a flare-up in Indore. And every new flare-up makes the situation more volatile. Indore is indeed a mini-Gujarat in the making.
The Muslims are insecure. They cluster together and seek shelter in the religious infrastructure whether it is Friday namaz or sending their children to madrasas. At the same time, the Muslim youth is restive and desperate.
The Hindu right wing has many sufficiently well organised squads of young activists who are ready to cause mayhem anywhere at a very short notice. No one dares to resist them. The administration and media offer support with impeccable loyalty to the ruling party's political agenda. The educated and elite Hindu middle class is complacent, rabidly anti-Muslim and anti-reservation. The rest of the Hindu community (the poor and the lower caste) is silent. This silent majority has no opinion, primarily because it has no confidence that its opinion matters anywhere.
It is of utmost urgency that the secular space be recovered. Politics has to be necessarily wrenched from the domain of caste and religious divides so that the meaningful agenda of development, employment and equitable growth comes on the centre stage. One hopes that the civil society groups and the left parties, and secular forces from other political and nonpolitical parties/ organisations will come together and take up this ambitious task without losing any time. One hopes that sufficient confidence can be instilled in the silent majority. It can then claim its democratic space and declare, "We will not allow Madhya Pradesh to become another Gujarat".
Shafi Mohd Sheikh, Ashok Dubey, Sarika Shrivastava, Pankhuri Mishra and Sourabh Das helped in collecting the data, meeting the victims and in writing this article. Jaya Mehta (jaya_mehta[at]hotmail.com) is an economist and Vineet Tiwari (comvineet[at]gmail.com) is a human rights activist and journalist, both are based in Indore.
Communal Violence in Indore
by Jaya Mehta, Vineet Tiwari
The "Bharat bandh" of July 3 saw communal violence erupt in Indore, with the police either on the sidelines or allegedly conniving in the attacks on the minorities. A number of events preceded the flare-up. Now fear and insecurity haunt the minority areas.
In the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) call for an all-India bandh, Indore witnessed widespread violence on July 3 and 4, 2008. Eight persons died. (Seven of them were Muslims.) Many people were injured and were admitted to hospitals in a serious condition. This was just a glimpse of the communalist forces active in the town and in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Background
Indore has had a glorious past of communal harmony. The Holkar state was known for its secular and progressive rule in the region. Indore was also a major textile centre in central India. Hindu and Muslim labourers worked side by side and the working class culture constituted a major bulwark against caste and religious divides. However, the mills have closed down. Indore is no longer an industrial town. It is now a major business hub and a real estate hot spot. Trade union politics has given way to communal politics. The working class culture has been replaced by the neorich culture of shopping malls.
The town is flush with loads of unaccounted money. At the same time, unemployed youth are available in large numbers for recruitment into various activities which characterise the distorted lumpen capitalism of our time.
After the BJP government came to power in the state again in 2003 the Hindu right wing organisations geared up their activities on all fronts and the local administration supported them. 'Path sanchalans'are organised regularly by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in different parts of the town. All public parks are used for morning 'shakhas'. The premise of a girls' college has been taken over to build a temple complex. 'Surya namaskar' is compulsory in all government schools.
Communal politics has made deep inroads in the administrative setup as well as in the audiovisual and print media. Temples in the premises of police stations are a common feature.
It is in this milieu that activists from the Bajrang Dal and other allied organizations have routinely registered their rowdy presence at the railway station, at the airport, in hospitals, and of course, on the streets. The Christian and Muslim communities have been attacked innumerable times. The Muslims retaliate locally. The Christians lodge their protests in various secular forums. However, the skirmishes occur with greater frequency than before.
As a background to the violence on July 3 and 4, one needs to mention two specific occurrences during the past year.
(1) Karbala Dispute: Over the last 150 years or so Muslims have been using a particular piece of land, the Karbala ground, for their three-day long fair of Moharram. This land was given to them in 1890 by Holkar rulers. They have all the necessary proof regarding legal ownership of the land. In 2000, Bajrang Dal, RSS, VHP and BJP activists claimed that there was an old Hanuman shrine in the ground.A Hanuman idol was installed and they started worshipping there every Tuesday.
The case went to court. In 2006, the court mandated that such activity should stop. A huge protest was organised against the ruling in April 2006 and the 'aarti' continued. Taking no cognisance of the court order, the administration decided that the Hindu organisations would be allowed to perform aarti on Tuesdays and the Muslims would continue using this ground for the Moharram fair.
In 2007, Moharram fell on January 30, a Tuesday. The clashes between the two communities started 10 days in advance. Muslims were humiliated and beaten up mercilessly both by the saffron brigades and the police. One old imam in a mosque was beaten up by the police and both his legs were fractured.
On January 30, the administration decided that the Muslims would use the ground till 9 pm. After that the ground would be vacated for the Hindus to perform the aarti. The Muslims gathered on Karbala ground in a large number (about 5-10,000).
At 9 pm, a small group of Hindus reached there. The collector requested the Muslims to vacate the ground. The humiliated mass in thousands refused to vacate and were assaulted by the police. The Karbala issue has become a ready excuse for starting a confrontation at any time. The Hanuman idol is there, the mazaar or the dargaah is there in the other corner of the ground. Despite the presence of police security, the area is always tense.
(2) arrest of SImI activists: On March 27, 2008, the Madhya Pradesh police made a sensational arrest of 13 Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists, who included Safdar Nagori, the organisation's top leader and Shibly Peedical Abdul, a Kerala born computer engineer, sought by the police since 2006. The media publicity that these arrests got generated an impression in the town that many Muslims in Indore had links with the terrorist organisation. A number of innocent people have been harassed by the police in this connection.
The cases were registered in Pithampur, an industrial suburb of Indore which belongs to Dhar district. The bar council of Dhar passed a resolution that no lawyer would take up the cases of those arrested in SIMI connections. When one lawyer came forward to take up the cases he was beaten up in the court. In this way, those arrested were denied their fundamental right of defence. Incidentally, Dhar has also been experiencing communal politics since the Babri demolition. The issue of Kamaal Moula masjid and 'Bhojshala' is known to everyone.
It is against this tense background that one looks at the happenings from July 3 onwards.
Chronology of Events
The VHP and BJP gave a call to observe the Bharat bandh on July 3 to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's order revoking the transfer of 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. The local leadership of BJP and the allied organisations naturally decided to make the bandh a big success. It was an opportunity to once again demonstrate their power. As the day broke, the saffron activists unleashed a reign of terror determined to stop all routine activities and in addition harass Muslims in the town in whatever way possible. At around 10 am, the bandh supporters marched in a procession and entered the Badwali Chowki, a Muslim dominated area. They shouted provocative slogans and misbehaved with local residents. There was not enough of a police force to control the hooligans. This happened afterwards in other Muslim dominated areas - Ranipura, Lodhipura, Mukeripura, Narsinghbazar, etc.
In Khajrana area, rowdy mobs of 10-15 teenage boys spread out and attacked, with hockey sticks, Muslim men and women walking on the roads. The victims were poor labourers wanting to go for work. Two women were coming home after a funeral. All these people were stopped, their religion was ascertained by their looks or by their names, and then they were beaten up. The police did not help the victims. They were left unattended on the road. When the Muslims went to the police station, there were only a few constables present and they refused to lodge their complaint. The Muslims then attacked the police station. This was sufficient for the police to behave in the most brutal manner. The bandh supporters were there in large numbers. The local 'patidar' community arrived on the scene with private guns. Some ammunition and arms was reportedly with Muslims also. There was firing resulting in the loss of three lives. Incidentally, all the three were Muslims. In Mukeripura area, when a mob of bandh supporters were near a masjid, they shouted provocative slogans. There was stone pelting from the rooftop of a building.
The bandh supporting mob started throwing stones in retaliation. On the local television channels one could see that the police stood by helpless, unable and unwilling to stop the violence. In all, four people died in the violence which erupted in the town on July 3, 2008. Apart from three Muslims who died in Khajrana, one Sindhi Hindu youth died in Mukeripura. Local residents reported that he was playing cricket outside his house, when the saffron cadre took him to the riot affected area. He died there with head injuries. Police and district administration imposed curfew in four areas of the town.
The next day, on July 4, fresh violence erupted in many other areas and in Juna Risala, two lives were lost because of police firing. Newspapers say that Muslims coming back from the nearby masjid after 'namaz' in Juna Risala started throwing stones and petrol bombs. The police was thus forced to open fire. However, according to the residents in the area the reality was just the opposite. The Muslims werecoming back peacefully after the namaz.
A petrol bomb was thrown on a scooter standing near the masjid. It caught fire, the Muslims were agitated. The saffron squads were present on the spot. The stone throwing took place from both sides and the situation got out of control. The police resorted to teargas shells and firing almost simultaneously. The area also has police residential quarters. The Muslims threw stones and petrol bombs on those houses and people witnessed that there was firing from the roof tops and from windows of the police quarters. Two people died in the firing (both Muslims). After this, curfew was imposed in the whole town.
On July 4, when curfew was imposed in the whole town, a religious procession of Venkatesh Mandir was not stopped in the Chhatripura area. Some 3,000 people participated in the procession. It is to be noted that the procession was taken out in an area, which had witnessed rioting and killing just a day before. Sumitra Mahajan a Member of Parliament, Mahendra Hardia a legislative assembly member, and many other BJP leaders participated in this procession. The police and administration found themselves helpless. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the state government, was given the responsibility of restoring peace and order. He repeatedly alleged that SIMI has been behind this eruption of violence. The director general of police reasserted this allegation. When asked to provide satisfactory evidence, the press was informed that the police was looking for evidence.
The very next day the Pithampur police recovered four live country made bombs, eight detonators and batteries from a mine in the vicinity of the Pithampur-Rau bypass. Although the police did not explicitly connect the riots with the discovery of bombs and the detonator, all the newspapers prominently placed the two news items adjacent to each other.
The curfew continued for five days. Sewa Bharati, an RSS outfit, offered help to the curfew affected people by providing them food. Along with food, they also distributed copies of a local eveninger, which had brought out a special issue on SIMI's activities in Indore. At the same time, the Bajrang Dal activists stood outside a hospital (Rajeshri Hospital) and did not allow Muslim riot victims to be admitted there.
On July 7, 2008, the BJP leaders took out a peace march in a riot-affected area. The implicit message to the minority people was - "Look, nothing happened to us and nothing will happen to us. You be aware of our strength". The collector and superintendent of police (SP) reaffirmed the message. There are hoardings in the town asking the union government to take back the Haj facilities from Muslims. The Congress leaders came and took the BJP, RSS and district administration to task. They addressed the press and raised a big protest in the assembly at Bhopal. With the elections approaching, the focus will soon shift from providing real justice to the victims to collecting votes.
After five days of curfew the town limped back to normalcy. Like Ahmedabad, Indore is also divided into two. The Muslim majority areas are simmering with anger and a sense of terrible insecurity. These areas are still under police guard. In many households the earning members are still not able to resume their work. The other side has resumed its normal life. The middle class Hindu community blames the Muslims for the disturbance in the town. The Hindu right wing activists go on with the refrain that they wanted a peaceful bandh; it is because of the noncooperation of Muslim community at large and the militancy of SIMI activists that bloodshed occurred.
Administration and Police
Both the collector and SP in the town took charge just about a month before the violence. The administration was admittedly unprepared for the violence which erupted in the wake of the bandh call. The police force recruited in the sensitive Muslim majority areas was inadequate and did precious little to confront the saffron squads harassing the Muslim families.
On July 4, the Khajrana area was under curfew. The police van arrived there on the pretext of guarding the streets under curfew and entered the Muslim residential area. Reportedly, the police force went on a rampage without any provocation from any quarter. The police threw stones at Muslim houses and vehicles parked in the street.
There is the more serious question of police opening fire at Khajrana on July 3 and at Juna Risala on July 4. The Muslims in Juna Risala refused to perform the last rites of the dead, till the first information reports (FIRs) were lodged against three policemen. Reportedly, even though the FIRs have been lodged, no action has been taken against them. On the other hand, the bandh supporters demanded that the FIRs be taken back. Any action against these policemen would bring down the morale of the entire police force, it is said.
The story of police action in Khajrana is even more sinister. One 17 year old boy Imran was going for work. When he saw the crowd in front of police station, he turned back to go home. According to his 14 year old younger brother, a policeman caught him, dragged him down to the ground, put the gun on his face, pulled the trigger and walked away. The mother found the body in the city hospital.
Till now, in communal conflicts, private parties were attacking each other with sticks, stones, knives and other such weapons. This is the first time that private guns have been used on such a large scale. Apart from those who died in firing, a large number of wounded persons suffered from bullet injuries. It needs to be investigated how many licences were issued lately for fire arms and to whom.
Media
Most of the pictures in the newspapers, or footage given on TV showed the Muslim boys and youth with beards and caps throwing stones or shouting. It is clear where the cameramen were and when these photographs were taken. The cameramen stood on the other side, i e, the side of the BJP-VHP people. Channels were continuously showing the scenes of violence for next two to three days after the incident with the label "live".
Once curfew was declared and rioting stopped, the media started reporting in great detail how people (the middle class) were passing their time during the curfew - playing cricket in the streets or inside the compounds of their multistoried buildings; men were cooking some special dishes, or, watching TV with the family or playing cards, etc. The media reported how marriages were organised under the curfew, and so on. The BJP leaders were projected as peaceseeking people appealing to the public to calm down. They led massive peace rallies. Little space was left for reporting the plight of those poor families whose near ones had died or those who were lying in hospitals. There was no effort in the media to mobilise public opinion to take action against the culprits of this crime. In fact, as already mentioned, the media collaborated in diverting attention to SIMI involvement.
Conclusions
The July 3 Bharat bandh for Amarnath shrine land was only an excuse. Any odd excuse can cause a flare-up in Indore. And every new flare-up makes the situation more volatile. Indore is indeed a mini-Gujarat in the making.
The Muslims are insecure. They cluster together and seek shelter in the religious infrastructure whether it is Friday namaz or sending their children to madrasas. At the same time, the Muslim youth is restive and desperate.
The Hindu right wing has many sufficiently well organised squads of young activists who are ready to cause mayhem anywhere at a very short notice. No one dares to resist them. The administration and media offer support with impeccable loyalty to the ruling party's political agenda. The educated and elite Hindu middle class is complacent, rabidly anti-Muslim and anti-reservation. The rest of the Hindu community (the poor and the lower caste) is silent. This silent majority has no opinion, primarily because it has no confidence that its opinion matters anywhere.
It is of utmost urgency that the secular space be recovered. Politics has to be necessarily wrenched from the domain of caste and religious divides so that the meaningful agenda of development, employment and equitable growth comes on the centre stage. One hopes that the civil society groups and the left parties, and secular forces from other political and nonpolitical parties/ organisations will come together and take up this ambitious task without losing any time. One hopes that sufficient confidence can be instilled in the silent majority. It can then claim its democratic space and declare, "We will not allow Madhya Pradesh to become another Gujarat".
Shafi Mohd Sheikh, Ashok Dubey, Sarika Shrivastava, Pankhuri Mishra and Sourabh Das helped in collecting the data, meeting the victims and in writing this article. Jaya Mehta (jaya_mehta[at]hotmail.com) is an economist and Vineet Tiwari (comvineet[at]gmail.com) is a human rights activist and journalist, both are based in Indore.
July 16, 2008
Were Riots in Indore pre-planned ?
(Asian Age, 15 July 2008)
‘Riots in Indore pre-planned’
Indore, July 15: Alleging that violence in Indore during the July 3 VHP’s "Bharat Bandh" was "preplanned", the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Tuesday asked the Madhya Pradesh government to order an impartial inquiry into the riots in which eight persons were killed. "It seems that some communal elements, in order to disturb peaceful atmosphere, resorted to large scale violence in a preplanned way," an NCM delegation noted.
Led by its chairman Mohammed Shafi Qureshi, the NCM delegation, which arrived here on a three-day visit, toured the riot-affected areas in Indore.
Mr Qureshi, a former Madhya Pradesh governor, asked the government to ensure that those involved in the riots are not only exposed but also prosecuted. Describing Amarnath Yatra as "a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity", the NCM chairman regretted that the allotment of land to the shrine board was communalised and attempts were made to vitiate atmosphere in the country.
The VHP-sponsored shutdown, supported by the ruling BJP, was called to protest the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to cancel the land allotment. Mr Qureshi also sought protection for the eyewitnesses to the riots on July 3 and 4. About possible involvement of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) in the riots, he said it was be too early to blame anyone. —PTI
‘Riots in Indore pre-planned’
Indore, July 15: Alleging that violence in Indore during the July 3 VHP’s "Bharat Bandh" was "preplanned", the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Tuesday asked the Madhya Pradesh government to order an impartial inquiry into the riots in which eight persons were killed. "It seems that some communal elements, in order to disturb peaceful atmosphere, resorted to large scale violence in a preplanned way," an NCM delegation noted.
Led by its chairman Mohammed Shafi Qureshi, the NCM delegation, which arrived here on a three-day visit, toured the riot-affected areas in Indore.
Mr Qureshi, a former Madhya Pradesh governor, asked the government to ensure that those involved in the riots are not only exposed but also prosecuted. Describing Amarnath Yatra as "a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity", the NCM chairman regretted that the allotment of land to the shrine board was communalised and attempts were made to vitiate atmosphere in the country.
The VHP-sponsored shutdown, supported by the ruling BJP, was called to protest the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to cancel the land allotment. Mr Qureshi also sought protection for the eyewitnesses to the riots on July 3 and 4. About possible involvement of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) in the riots, he said it was be too early to blame anyone. —PTI
July 14, 2008
Sangh Violence Engulfed Indore
(People's Democracy, July 13 , 2008)
BAJRANGIS GET FULL MP POLICE BACKING
Sangh Violence Engulfs Indore In Flames
by Badal Saroj From Indore
INDORE, the biggest city of Madhya Pradesh, was recently in flames for several days. Some newspapers sought to portray it as a communal riot, but the whole of Indore is unanimous that it was not a riot. And that is the only ray of hope in the midst of all the violence, deaths, curfew, mayhem and terror. It was in fact a well organised mayhem, which the goons of the Sangh Parivar perpetrated with the full backing of the BJP government of the state, in criminal collusion with the police administration.
This is something unanimously agreed to by a diverse range of people --- from auto-rickshaw drivers to the doctors of the civil hospital. No matter whatever the press publishes, journalists too privately agree to it. People at large are blaming the activities of the RSS goons during the Sangh-BJP bandh on July 3 for the setback the city’s tradition of peace and harmony has suffered. This they view in context of the drive of communal polarisation the RSS has been running for the last several years. So much so that even the traders and shopkeepers who have been helping the saffron brigade with money and other things, are horrified over the July 3 bandh and the three days of curfew following it.
PREPLANNED VIOLENCE
Everything went on in a preplanned manner on the day of the “Bharat Bandh” called for on the issue of land for Amarnath shrine. As per some plan, the whole city was apportioned between the BJP ministers and MLAs. Thousands of food packets were prepared and their distribution centres notified in advance, and thus a hint for the RSS gameplan was already given. Full arrangements for the cadres were made so that, on the fateful day, they did not go home back and remained in designated places, so that they were available any time for the mayhem.
The bandh was peaceful till the noon time and the markets were closed. But then the saffron brigade began to attack and vandalise the Muslims’ shops. Provocative slogans were raised, abuses showered and petrol bombs used in the thickly populated Muslim areas. When such activities in Barwali Chowki, Khajrana and Bambai Bazar areas did not yield any fruits, firing was resorted to in Khajrana. This claimed three lives --- of Imran, Mehmood and Anwar. Khemchand Makhija, a trade, also died here on the same day.
According to the eye witnesses, the Rapid Action Force of the police was guiding the heavily armed BJP squads when they reached the Ranipura area to enforce the bandh. In Juna Risala, it was the policemen who resorted to firing; they were not in uniform but they were not on duty either. This firing killed two boys --- Zishan Siddiqui (15) and Rizwan (17). One of them was a labourer who had just returned from work. All the shops of the Pakeeza Collections, selling ladies’ garments, were attacked. Medical stores belonging to the Muslims were not spared either. Bengali speaking Muslim workers were particularly targeted. It has been said hat every squad out to enforce the bandh was armed, and escorted by policemen.
When the video footage of those arsoning a Reliance Fresh outlet became public knowledge, the police rounded up the culprits, but the RSS got them released from the police station itself. The SP tried to persuade the SHO to release them but when the latter did not oblige, the SP made him talk to the local RSS chief who threatened the SHO.
When the citizens from minority habitations demanded a change in the behaviour of the police force, they too were attacked. Some 30 persons were seriously injured in this lathicharge but they were not properly attended in the hospitals.
The police later registered cases against 13 RSS men and some policemen but the non-arrest of 9 persons nominated for the Saanwer riots is indicative of what fate these cases too would suffer.
RSS OFFICE: REAL CONTROL ROOM
The local RSS office, known as the Archana Karyalaya, was the real control room in this whole duration. The Collector, IG, SP and Commissioner spent a few hours here on July 2 evening. The Collector and SP came here again on July 3 morning. It is not for nothing that the police force heavily guarded the RSS goons when they were putting parts of the city to fire.
The police prevented the namaz-e-janaza in a mosque when those killed in the first day’s violence were to be buried. The police resorted to lathicharge and firing and used tear gas here on the plea that women in the crowd were pelting stones against them. The newspapers, too, prominently published next day reports about “the minority violence” though they failed to mislead the common citizens. The latter saw that the Muslims were indeed agitated against the police partisanship but there was not a single case of clash between the two communities.
When the whole city was curfew bound, the administration bowed to the RSS pressure and allowed a rath yatra from the Chhatri Bagh, the most sensitive area. The aim of this yatra was to provoke anti-Muslim feelings and Sumitra Mahajan, BJP MP from Indore, was seen dancing garba in front of the rath. The chief minister, Shivraj Singh Patil, openly justified this macabre show of festivity after all that arson, mayhem and murders.
The game of stoking communal passions had started two days before July 3. The brigade had already given a call for staging demonstrations in front of mosques and giving memoranda to the concerned maulvis and mutwallis. This was unheard of and had sent alarm waves in the whole city. Moreover, these people did raise unprintable slogans in front of some mosques. Demonstrations at the mosques in such sensitive area as Mukeripura and Malwah Mill were held at the prayer time so that any action by the Muslims could make the RSS game easier.
On June 2, processions with naked swords were taken out through minority habitations. On the same day, the brigade staged a gherao of the SP office, as if to warn them that they must be ready to help the goons the next day.
It must be noted here that, in Indore alone, more than 2,000 licenses for firearms have been issued in the last two years, and everybody knows who the beneficiaries are. At the same time, the VHP and Bajrang Dal were also holding their trishul distribution ceremonies in this period. The police, however, did not seize any of these weapons and engaged themselves with the search of Muslim houses in the name of arms hauls.
LEFT SIEGE
AT SP OFFICE
In the very midst of the curfew, the CPI(M), CPI and Samajwadi Party laid siege of the SP office to give voice to the people’s ire against this open police collusion with the saffron brigade. On July 5, led by CPI(M) state secretariat member Kailash Limbodia, a number of party workers demonstrated at the SP office. The police tried first to chase them away, and then to arrest them, but failed. On June 7, a number of intellectuals and writers joined hands with the Left cadres to hold a public meeting at the Regal Crossing, where they severely condemned the state government. On the same day, Badal Saroj, the CPI(M) state secretary, also reached Indore and called a meeting of party workers to plan how the police partisanship and high-handedness could be resisted. The party’s district committee has constituted squads to go to the affected areas
The Left parties have decided to soon organise a big one day dharna to press its demands. These are --- (1) judicial enquiry into the events of July 3 and 4, (2) arrest of and institution of criminal cases against Sumitra Mahajan, minister Vijay Vargiya, and all the MLAs involved in the communal conspiracy, and (3) suspension of the Collector and the SP who is a relative of the chief minister. A ten days long campaign against the police atrocities being perpetrated against the dalits, Muslims and tribals has also been planned. CPI(M) workers are going to all the localities to warn the people against the BJP rumour mongers even though the administration refused them curfew passes. The complete peace prevailing in the workers’ areas shows that the people have begun to see the brigade’s real face.
But not so the Congress, which maintained stoic silence in the first three days of the mayhem. It did not issue a single press release either. On the fourth day, former chief minister Digvijay Singh and his entourage courted arrest at the airport, and their ‘struggle’ ended with that.
THE RSS GAME
IN UJJAIN
The communal outfits did their best to stoke the communal flames in nearby Ujjain too, where Muslims constitute about one third of the population. On the bandh day, the saffron goons rushed to the minority habitations where they resorted to arsoning and abusive language. They tried to vandalise the vegetable market but the game was foiled by the Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers unitedly. The irritated goons then put afire the Muslims’ shops in the railway station area.
The intervention by some concerned citizens has since then diffused the situation. Badal Saroj visited Ujjain too, and helped the local party unit to chalk out a plan to heighten the citizens’ violence.
At Indore as well as Ujjain, the police are trying to hide their own criminality by raising the SIMI bogey. But people know that their was no riot whatsoever; it was sheer one-sided attack perpetrated by the RSS and its frontal outfits. Nobody is prepared to accept the SIMI bogey as not a single person arrested for alleged involvement with the SIMI has been charge-sheeted in the last four years.
The impending elections to the state assembly, due in the coming November, are the real reason behind this bout of violence. The BJP’s frustration is understandable, as it has nothing worthwhile to show as its achievement. Now the party is banking on the possibility of communal polarisation. Will this trick work? The situation in Indore promises to belie the BJP’s hopes.
BAJRANGIS GET FULL MP POLICE BACKING
Sangh Violence Engulfs Indore In Flames
by Badal Saroj From Indore
INDORE, the biggest city of Madhya Pradesh, was recently in flames for several days. Some newspapers sought to portray it as a communal riot, but the whole of Indore is unanimous that it was not a riot. And that is the only ray of hope in the midst of all the violence, deaths, curfew, mayhem and terror. It was in fact a well organised mayhem, which the goons of the Sangh Parivar perpetrated with the full backing of the BJP government of the state, in criminal collusion with the police administration.
This is something unanimously agreed to by a diverse range of people --- from auto-rickshaw drivers to the doctors of the civil hospital. No matter whatever the press publishes, journalists too privately agree to it. People at large are blaming the activities of the RSS goons during the Sangh-BJP bandh on July 3 for the setback the city’s tradition of peace and harmony has suffered. This they view in context of the drive of communal polarisation the RSS has been running for the last several years. So much so that even the traders and shopkeepers who have been helping the saffron brigade with money and other things, are horrified over the July 3 bandh and the three days of curfew following it.
PREPLANNED VIOLENCE
Everything went on in a preplanned manner on the day of the “Bharat Bandh” called for on the issue of land for Amarnath shrine. As per some plan, the whole city was apportioned between the BJP ministers and MLAs. Thousands of food packets were prepared and their distribution centres notified in advance, and thus a hint for the RSS gameplan was already given. Full arrangements for the cadres were made so that, on the fateful day, they did not go home back and remained in designated places, so that they were available any time for the mayhem.
The bandh was peaceful till the noon time and the markets were closed. But then the saffron brigade began to attack and vandalise the Muslims’ shops. Provocative slogans were raised, abuses showered and petrol bombs used in the thickly populated Muslim areas. When such activities in Barwali Chowki, Khajrana and Bambai Bazar areas did not yield any fruits, firing was resorted to in Khajrana. This claimed three lives --- of Imran, Mehmood and Anwar. Khemchand Makhija, a trade, also died here on the same day.
According to the eye witnesses, the Rapid Action Force of the police was guiding the heavily armed BJP squads when they reached the Ranipura area to enforce the bandh. In Juna Risala, it was the policemen who resorted to firing; they were not in uniform but they were not on duty either. This firing killed two boys --- Zishan Siddiqui (15) and Rizwan (17). One of them was a labourer who had just returned from work. All the shops of the Pakeeza Collections, selling ladies’ garments, were attacked. Medical stores belonging to the Muslims were not spared either. Bengali speaking Muslim workers were particularly targeted. It has been said hat every squad out to enforce the bandh was armed, and escorted by policemen.
When the video footage of those arsoning a Reliance Fresh outlet became public knowledge, the police rounded up the culprits, but the RSS got them released from the police station itself. The SP tried to persuade the SHO to release them but when the latter did not oblige, the SP made him talk to the local RSS chief who threatened the SHO.
When the citizens from minority habitations demanded a change in the behaviour of the police force, they too were attacked. Some 30 persons were seriously injured in this lathicharge but they were not properly attended in the hospitals.
The police later registered cases against 13 RSS men and some policemen but the non-arrest of 9 persons nominated for the Saanwer riots is indicative of what fate these cases too would suffer.
RSS OFFICE: REAL CONTROL ROOM
The local RSS office, known as the Archana Karyalaya, was the real control room in this whole duration. The Collector, IG, SP and Commissioner spent a few hours here on July 2 evening. The Collector and SP came here again on July 3 morning. It is not for nothing that the police force heavily guarded the RSS goons when they were putting parts of the city to fire.
The police prevented the namaz-e-janaza in a mosque when those killed in the first day’s violence were to be buried. The police resorted to lathicharge and firing and used tear gas here on the plea that women in the crowd were pelting stones against them. The newspapers, too, prominently published next day reports about “the minority violence” though they failed to mislead the common citizens. The latter saw that the Muslims were indeed agitated against the police partisanship but there was not a single case of clash between the two communities.
When the whole city was curfew bound, the administration bowed to the RSS pressure and allowed a rath yatra from the Chhatri Bagh, the most sensitive area. The aim of this yatra was to provoke anti-Muslim feelings and Sumitra Mahajan, BJP MP from Indore, was seen dancing garba in front of the rath. The chief minister, Shivraj Singh Patil, openly justified this macabre show of festivity after all that arson, mayhem and murders.
The game of stoking communal passions had started two days before July 3. The brigade had already given a call for staging demonstrations in front of mosques and giving memoranda to the concerned maulvis and mutwallis. This was unheard of and had sent alarm waves in the whole city. Moreover, these people did raise unprintable slogans in front of some mosques. Demonstrations at the mosques in such sensitive area as Mukeripura and Malwah Mill were held at the prayer time so that any action by the Muslims could make the RSS game easier.
On June 2, processions with naked swords were taken out through minority habitations. On the same day, the brigade staged a gherao of the SP office, as if to warn them that they must be ready to help the goons the next day.
It must be noted here that, in Indore alone, more than 2,000 licenses for firearms have been issued in the last two years, and everybody knows who the beneficiaries are. At the same time, the VHP and Bajrang Dal were also holding their trishul distribution ceremonies in this period. The police, however, did not seize any of these weapons and engaged themselves with the search of Muslim houses in the name of arms hauls.
LEFT SIEGE
AT SP OFFICE
In the very midst of the curfew, the CPI(M), CPI and Samajwadi Party laid siege of the SP office to give voice to the people’s ire against this open police collusion with the saffron brigade. On July 5, led by CPI(M) state secretariat member Kailash Limbodia, a number of party workers demonstrated at the SP office. The police tried first to chase them away, and then to arrest them, but failed. On June 7, a number of intellectuals and writers joined hands with the Left cadres to hold a public meeting at the Regal Crossing, where they severely condemned the state government. On the same day, Badal Saroj, the CPI(M) state secretary, also reached Indore and called a meeting of party workers to plan how the police partisanship and high-handedness could be resisted. The party’s district committee has constituted squads to go to the affected areas
The Left parties have decided to soon organise a big one day dharna to press its demands. These are --- (1) judicial enquiry into the events of July 3 and 4, (2) arrest of and institution of criminal cases against Sumitra Mahajan, minister Vijay Vargiya, and all the MLAs involved in the communal conspiracy, and (3) suspension of the Collector and the SP who is a relative of the chief minister. A ten days long campaign against the police atrocities being perpetrated against the dalits, Muslims and tribals has also been planned. CPI(M) workers are going to all the localities to warn the people against the BJP rumour mongers even though the administration refused them curfew passes. The complete peace prevailing in the workers’ areas shows that the people have begun to see the brigade’s real face.
But not so the Congress, which maintained stoic silence in the first three days of the mayhem. It did not issue a single press release either. On the fourth day, former chief minister Digvijay Singh and his entourage courted arrest at the airport, and their ‘struggle’ ended with that.
THE RSS GAME
IN UJJAIN
The communal outfits did their best to stoke the communal flames in nearby Ujjain too, where Muslims constitute about one third of the population. On the bandh day, the saffron goons rushed to the minority habitations where they resorted to arsoning and abusive language. They tried to vandalise the vegetable market but the game was foiled by the Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers unitedly. The irritated goons then put afire the Muslims’ shops in the railway station area.
The intervention by some concerned citizens has since then diffused the situation. Badal Saroj visited Ujjain too, and helped the local party unit to chalk out a plan to heighten the citizens’ violence.
At Indore as well as Ujjain, the police are trying to hide their own criminality by raising the SIMI bogey. But people know that their was no riot whatsoever; it was sheer one-sided attack perpetrated by the RSS and its frontal outfits. Nobody is prepared to accept the SIMI bogey as not a single person arrested for alleged involvement with the SIMI has been charge-sheeted in the last four years.
The impending elections to the state assembly, due in the coming November, are the real reason behind this bout of violence. The BJP’s frustration is understandable, as it has nothing worthwhile to show as its achievement. Now the party is banking on the possibility of communal polarisation. Will this trick work? The situation in Indore promises to belie the BJP’s hopes.
July 09, 2008
Indore ravaged: The aftermath of BJP sponsored Bandh
July 8th, 2008, Indore
by Vineet Tiwari
(Shafi Mohd. Sheikh, Jaya Mehta, Ashok Dubey, Pankhuri Mishra and Sourabh Das helped in collecting the data, meeting the victims and in writing this article).
In the wake of BJP and VHP’s call for an all India Bandh, Indore town witnessed widespread violence on July 3rd & 4th 2008. Seven lives were lost. (Six of them were Muslims). Many people were injured and are admitted in the hospitals in serious conditions. It was merely a glimpse of the intention of the communalist forces active in town and in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They want to replicate the Gujarat experiment of massacre and bloodbath in MP too.
As the state government is of BJP, it was clear to everybody that state will rope in all its resources to make the Bandh a success. There has been a massive reshuffling of state bureaucratic cadre in the recent past. As a result, both the Collector and SP in the town have taken charge just about a month ago. One wonders if they bothered to get familiar with the history of recurrent communal strife in the town.
On the 3rd and 4th of July 2008, BJP and its allied cadre targeted the Muslim community in a planned manner and the administration offered them the opportunity to do so. Here is a brief chronology of the violent incidents which occurred.
1. On July 3rd, two outlets of Reliance Fresh opened their shutters to unload the vegetables which arrived in the morning. These outlets were attacked by the BJP, Bajrang Dal and VHP cadre.
2. At around 10.00 A.M., the Bandh supporters entered in the huge number in Badwali Chowki, a Muslim dominated area. They shouted provocative slogans and misbehaved with local residents. There was not enough police force to control the hooligans.
3. The same happened afterwards in other Muslim dominated areas -- Ranipura, Lodhipura, Mukeripura, Narsinghbazar, and Khajrana. In Khajrana area, people passing on the road were stopped. After ascertaining their religious identity, Muslim men and women were beaten up and left unattended. A mob of 10-15 people comprising of young teenager boys were beating Muslims with hockey sticks. Police was not helping the victims. Aroused people went to the police station but were not given any assurance. Angry and humiliated people poured their anger on Khajrana police station. It is also to be noted that the Bandh supporters were also there in large numbers. Filled with fury and fear, the Muslim community retaliated with stones and other weapons. Reportedly some ammunition arms were also there. Firing was opened from both the sides resulting in the loss of three lives. Incidentally all the three were Muslims.
Likewise, in Mukeripura area, when a mob of Bandh supporters reached near a Masjid, they shouted provocative slogans. There was stone pelting from the roof top of a building. Those who indulged in this violence covered their faces with handkerchiefs. The Bandh supporting mob also started throwing stones in retaliation. On the local television channels we observed that the police stood by helpless unable to stop the violence.
4. In all, four people died in the violence which erupted in the town on July 3rd, 2008. Police and district administration imposed curfew in four areas of the town. Both Collector and SP accepted in an interview with media, that they did not anticipate this level of violence. Three people died from the one area, Khajrana. They were all Muslims and the one Sindhi hindu youth died in another incident. Local residents reported that he was playing cricket outside his house, when BJP leaders took him to the riot affected vicinity.
5. It seems that even after the previous day's incidents, police and administration could not gauge the boiling temper of the town. Next day, i.e. on July 4th, 2008, fresh violence erupted in many other areas and took two more lives. Newspapers say that Muslims coming back from the nearby Masjid after Namaz started throwing the stones and petrol bombs. However, we were informed by some residents that first the Muslims, who were coming back peacefully after the Namaz were attacked. They retaliated. The police took action against Muslims only and supported the BJP and others taking active part in the riot. After this, curfew was imposed in the whole town.
6. The pressure of BJP on Police and administration can be well understood by one more incident. When curfew was imposed in the whole town, a religious procession of Venkatesh Mandir was not stopped in Chhatripura area. Police and administration found themselves helpless. Some 3000 people participated in the procession. It is to be noted that the procession was taken out in an area which witnessed rioting and killing just a day before. Member of Parliament Sumitra Mahajan, MLA Mahendra Hardia and many other BJP leaders participated in this procession.
7. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the state government has been given the charge to restore peace and order. He has repeatedly alleged that SIMI is behind this eruption of violence. DG police reasserted this allegation. When asked to provide a satisfactory evidence for this allegation, press was informed that the police was looking for the evidence. Next day the police promptly put up the supporting evidence. It should be noted here that in the recent past police has been found guilty of planting false evidence and harassing innocent people in connection with SIMI activities.
As elsewhere in the country, Indore also has a glorious past of communal harmony. However, for last two decades the engineered communal tensions and clashes are increasing. The reason is no different than that in other parts of the country.
The Holkar state is known for its secular and progressive rule in the region. It is common to find temples and mosques or churches built adjacent to each other. Now, with the advent of communal strife, these symbols of peaceful coexistence are being used to poison people’s mind and to fill the two communities with hatred. Not a single month goes without a major or minor communal skirmish in the town.
Communal politics has made deep inroads in the administrative setup as well as in the audio visual and print media. Temples in Police Stations are a common feature in entire country, including the states ruled by the left front. Now a days, the press clubs are also not spared. In Indore Press Club, one can see a newly built big enough temple inside the premise.
Muslim community in Khajrana reports that on 3rd of July the RSS and Bajrang Dal systematically bashed up the Muslims walking on the street. When the muslims went to lodge a complaint at the local police station the police refused to do so . This infuriated the Muslims and they started throwing stones. This was promptly photographed and reported by the media ‘Muslim mob in communal frenzy’. Innumerable instances of such biased and inflammatory reporting can be cited. Channels were showing continuously the scenes of violence for next 2-3 days after the incident with the label ‘LIVE’.
Media was reporting in great detail how people (middle class) are passing their time in curfew---playing cricket in the streets or inside the compounds of their multi storied buildings, or men cooking some good dishes celebrating it as a holiday, or watching TV with family or playing cards, etc. Little space was left for reporting plight of those whose near ones died or those who are lying in hospitals. There was no effort from media to mobilise public opinion to take action against the culprits of this crime. There were several shows of peace seeking people appealing public to calm down. There was a general philosophical message inherent in these all that “Past is past; now forget about it and restore peace”, as though; it was a natural calamity or merely an accident.
Reportedly, the police force on the pretext of guarding the streets under curfew entered the Muslim resident area and indiscriminately attacked their vehicles and threw stones at their houses. Reportedly, there was firing from the rooftops of police quarters.
Furthermore, Sewa Bharati, an RSS outfit, declared help for curfew affected people by providing them the food. Some mobile numbers were also shown on the television to contact. This reminded me of the US attack on Afghanistan when they threw food packets along with the bombs. On July 7th, 2008, BJP leaders took out a peace march in a riot affected area. This was clearly giving a silent message to minority that- Look, nothing happened to us and nothing will happen to us. You minorities, be aware of our strength. Quiet and calm Collector and SP were also silently reaffirming the message. There are hoardings in the town asking the union government to take back the Haj facilities from Muslims, if Amarnath Shrine Board is not given the land title in Jammu. These hoardings display the names of the very same people who took the lead in the Peace March.
On July 7th, 2008, we interviewed and took the statements of the injured people and talked to their relatives. Three were critical. They got injured in firing. They were kept on ventilators. I saw them. The same night, one of them died who was hit by a bullet in the neck.
Congress leaders came and took the BJP, RSS and district administration to task, but they are no real hope. With the nearing elections in the state, as well as in the nation, the focus will soon shift from providing real justice to the victims to collecting votes.
In such circumstances, we know that there is no readymade solution. It is also not that that we have suddenly got up from any sleep after this shock. We, in limited numbers and in more limited resources, have been fighting with these communal fascist forces, forces of globalisation and forces of darkness for years. But, and this has been a big but for all of us, these forces are gaining fresh strength day by day.
We appeal to all anti communal, anti fascist forces to keep a close watch on Madhya Pradesh, and try to spare more time for the activities in Madhya Pradesh, and make strong links with the likeminded people and organisations.
*****
CONTACTS: Sandarbh Kendra, 26, Mahavir Nagar, Off Kanadia Road, INDORE-452018.
Vineet Tiwari -09893192740, Jaya Mehta-0731-2561663, Ashok Dubey-9424577474, Shafi Mohd. Sheikh-9425032121
by Vineet Tiwari
(Shafi Mohd. Sheikh, Jaya Mehta, Ashok Dubey, Pankhuri Mishra and Sourabh Das helped in collecting the data, meeting the victims and in writing this article).
In the wake of BJP and VHP’s call for an all India Bandh, Indore town witnessed widespread violence on July 3rd & 4th 2008. Seven lives were lost. (Six of them were Muslims). Many people were injured and are admitted in the hospitals in serious conditions. It was merely a glimpse of the intention of the communalist forces active in town and in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They want to replicate the Gujarat experiment of massacre and bloodbath in MP too.
As the state government is of BJP, it was clear to everybody that state will rope in all its resources to make the Bandh a success. There has been a massive reshuffling of state bureaucratic cadre in the recent past. As a result, both the Collector and SP in the town have taken charge just about a month ago. One wonders if they bothered to get familiar with the history of recurrent communal strife in the town.
On the 3rd and 4th of July 2008, BJP and its allied cadre targeted the Muslim community in a planned manner and the administration offered them the opportunity to do so. Here is a brief chronology of the violent incidents which occurred.
1. On July 3rd, two outlets of Reliance Fresh opened their shutters to unload the vegetables which arrived in the morning. These outlets were attacked by the BJP, Bajrang Dal and VHP cadre.
2. At around 10.00 A.M., the Bandh supporters entered in the huge number in Badwali Chowki, a Muslim dominated area. They shouted provocative slogans and misbehaved with local residents. There was not enough police force to control the hooligans.
3. The same happened afterwards in other Muslim dominated areas -- Ranipura, Lodhipura, Mukeripura, Narsinghbazar, and Khajrana. In Khajrana area, people passing on the road were stopped. After ascertaining their religious identity, Muslim men and women were beaten up and left unattended. A mob of 10-15 people comprising of young teenager boys were beating Muslims with hockey sticks. Police was not helping the victims. Aroused people went to the police station but were not given any assurance. Angry and humiliated people poured their anger on Khajrana police station. It is also to be noted that the Bandh supporters were also there in large numbers. Filled with fury and fear, the Muslim community retaliated with stones and other weapons. Reportedly some ammunition arms were also there. Firing was opened from both the sides resulting in the loss of three lives. Incidentally all the three were Muslims.
Likewise, in Mukeripura area, when a mob of Bandh supporters reached near a Masjid, they shouted provocative slogans. There was stone pelting from the roof top of a building. Those who indulged in this violence covered their faces with handkerchiefs. The Bandh supporting mob also started throwing stones in retaliation. On the local television channels we observed that the police stood by helpless unable to stop the violence.
4. In all, four people died in the violence which erupted in the town on July 3rd, 2008. Police and district administration imposed curfew in four areas of the town. Both Collector and SP accepted in an interview with media, that they did not anticipate this level of violence. Three people died from the one area, Khajrana. They were all Muslims and the one Sindhi hindu youth died in another incident. Local residents reported that he was playing cricket outside his house, when BJP leaders took him to the riot affected vicinity.
5. It seems that even after the previous day's incidents, police and administration could not gauge the boiling temper of the town. Next day, i.e. on July 4th, 2008, fresh violence erupted in many other areas and took two more lives. Newspapers say that Muslims coming back from the nearby Masjid after Namaz started throwing the stones and petrol bombs. However, we were informed by some residents that first the Muslims, who were coming back peacefully after the Namaz were attacked. They retaliated. The police took action against Muslims only and supported the BJP and others taking active part in the riot. After this, curfew was imposed in the whole town.
6. The pressure of BJP on Police and administration can be well understood by one more incident. When curfew was imposed in the whole town, a religious procession of Venkatesh Mandir was not stopped in Chhatripura area. Police and administration found themselves helpless. Some 3000 people participated in the procession. It is to be noted that the procession was taken out in an area which witnessed rioting and killing just a day before. Member of Parliament Sumitra Mahajan, MLA Mahendra Hardia and many other BJP leaders participated in this procession.
7. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the state government has been given the charge to restore peace and order. He has repeatedly alleged that SIMI is behind this eruption of violence. DG police reasserted this allegation. When asked to provide a satisfactory evidence for this allegation, press was informed that the police was looking for the evidence. Next day the police promptly put up the supporting evidence. It should be noted here that in the recent past police has been found guilty of planting false evidence and harassing innocent people in connection with SIMI activities.
As elsewhere in the country, Indore also has a glorious past of communal harmony. However, for last two decades the engineered communal tensions and clashes are increasing. The reason is no different than that in other parts of the country.
The Holkar state is known for its secular and progressive rule in the region. It is common to find temples and mosques or churches built adjacent to each other. Now, with the advent of communal strife, these symbols of peaceful coexistence are being used to poison people’s mind and to fill the two communities with hatred. Not a single month goes without a major or minor communal skirmish in the town.
Communal politics has made deep inroads in the administrative setup as well as in the audio visual and print media. Temples in Police Stations are a common feature in entire country, including the states ruled by the left front. Now a days, the press clubs are also not spared. In Indore Press Club, one can see a newly built big enough temple inside the premise.
Muslim community in Khajrana reports that on 3rd of July the RSS and Bajrang Dal systematically bashed up the Muslims walking on the street. When the muslims went to lodge a complaint at the local police station the police refused to do so . This infuriated the Muslims and they started throwing stones. This was promptly photographed and reported by the media ‘Muslim mob in communal frenzy’. Innumerable instances of such biased and inflammatory reporting can be cited. Channels were showing continuously the scenes of violence for next 2-3 days after the incident with the label ‘LIVE’.
Media was reporting in great detail how people (middle class) are passing their time in curfew---playing cricket in the streets or inside the compounds of their multi storied buildings, or men cooking some good dishes celebrating it as a holiday, or watching TV with family or playing cards, etc. Little space was left for reporting plight of those whose near ones died or those who are lying in hospitals. There was no effort from media to mobilise public opinion to take action against the culprits of this crime. There were several shows of peace seeking people appealing public to calm down. There was a general philosophical message inherent in these all that “Past is past; now forget about it and restore peace”, as though; it was a natural calamity or merely an accident.
Reportedly, the police force on the pretext of guarding the streets under curfew entered the Muslim resident area and indiscriminately attacked their vehicles and threw stones at their houses. Reportedly, there was firing from the rooftops of police quarters.
Furthermore, Sewa Bharati, an RSS outfit, declared help for curfew affected people by providing them the food. Some mobile numbers were also shown on the television to contact. This reminded me of the US attack on Afghanistan when they threw food packets along with the bombs. On July 7th, 2008, BJP leaders took out a peace march in a riot affected area. This was clearly giving a silent message to minority that- Look, nothing happened to us and nothing will happen to us. You minorities, be aware of our strength. Quiet and calm Collector and SP were also silently reaffirming the message. There are hoardings in the town asking the union government to take back the Haj facilities from Muslims, if Amarnath Shrine Board is not given the land title in Jammu. These hoardings display the names of the very same people who took the lead in the Peace March.
On July 7th, 2008, we interviewed and took the statements of the injured people and talked to their relatives. Three were critical. They got injured in firing. They were kept on ventilators. I saw them. The same night, one of them died who was hit by a bullet in the neck.
Congress leaders came and took the BJP, RSS and district administration to task, but they are no real hope. With the nearing elections in the state, as well as in the nation, the focus will soon shift from providing real justice to the victims to collecting votes.
In such circumstances, we know that there is no readymade solution. It is also not that that we have suddenly got up from any sleep after this shock. We, in limited numbers and in more limited resources, have been fighting with these communal fascist forces, forces of globalisation and forces of darkness for years. But, and this has been a big but for all of us, these forces are gaining fresh strength day by day.
We appeal to all anti communal, anti fascist forces to keep a close watch on Madhya Pradesh, and try to spare more time for the activities in Madhya Pradesh, and make strong links with the likeminded people and organisations.
*****
CONTACTS: Sandarbh Kendra, 26, Mahavir Nagar, Off Kanadia Road, INDORE-452018.
Vineet Tiwari -09893192740, Jaya Mehta-0731-2561663, Ashok Dubey-9424577474, Shafi Mohd. Sheikh-9425032121
June 23, 2008
March 13, 2007
communal violence in Indore - commentry and news reports
(Central Chronicle
March 14, 2007)
Editorial
No let-up in violence: Anti-socials threaten harmony
Continued violence in Indore is a matter of concern not only for the state government but also for all the law abiding peace-loving people. While on Sunday, a mere incidence of eve-teasing at a public tap turned violent in the Razvi bazar area, on Monday itself in Chhatripura area at Kagdipura a motorcycle-rickshaw collision took an ugly turn resulting into a communal outbreak. Thus stone-pelting on rival groups, arson, loot and rampaging mob forced the district administration authorities to take stringent measures to bring the situation under control. Only recently Indore city had seen similar violence laced with communal passions threatening the very fabric of cultural amity which the state population is known for. Clearly, the apathetic attitude of the district police has given a chance - a free run in fact, to those anti-social elements who have hardly any regards for societal amity and peaceful co-existence. Had it not been so, in a peaceful multi-cultural city like Indore, violence had not occurred so spontaneously. These sporadic instances certainly contradict the claims of the state government of having control over the crime. Not only the state government but an alert district administration should always be ready to stop any such occurrences in the future. For, providing security to each and every citizen of the state is the universal duty of the state government. Unless the police administration is vigilant people will not feel safe which is also very important for peace in the society.
o o o
The Hindu
Mar 14, 2007
Tension in Indore
Staff Reporter
BHOPAL: Tension prevailed in Indore on Tuesday following a clash between members of two communities over a minor incident on Monday.
Heavy police pickets have been posted there to keep the situation under control.
According to reports received here, the clashes started at Dargah Chowki and soon mobs began pelting stones in the Taatpatti Bakhal and Ramdas Pura areas falling under the Chhatripura police station. The police used force and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the violent group on Monday night.
Several persons have been rounded up. Petrol bombs and sharp-edged weapons have been seized by the police.
o o o
The Times of India
13 Mar, 2007
Communal tension in Indore town
[ 13 Mar, 2007 1116hrs IST PTI ]
INDORE: Members of two communities indulged in stone-pelting following a minor accident, forcing the police to open fire in air and lob teargas shells in the Taatpatti Bakhal area in Indore.
The clash occurred late Monday night after a minor accident between two persons belonging to separate communities, leading to tension in the area, police said on Tuesday.
The situation was under control and no untoward incident has been reported since then, Additional SP Manoj Singh said, adding police have been deployed in the area and other sensitive places.
A case has been registered in this regard, but no arrests have been made so far, he said.
On March 11, tension gripped the Toda area of the city over a petty issue of filling up water from a tap, resulting in heavy stone-pelting.
o o o
HindustanTimes.com » Print Editions » Bhopal » Metro » Pg 1: Front »
Communal flare-ups reek of a sinister design
Punya Priya Mitra
Indore, February 19, 2007
Over a week after it witnessed a communal flare-up, Indore appears quiet on the surface. But beneath the deceptive calm in the City lurks a growing fear of any trivial incident triggering off communal violence. The fear stems from the recent experience. The communal frenzy was not the outcome of any spontaneous outpouring of anger. There was an unmistakable method in the madness.
Take for instance the suspected eve-teasing incident on February 12 that took no time in assuming a diabolical turn. It was alleged that Munna Mohammad teased a girl near his shop at Narsingh Bazar. When one Neelu Panchal protested, Munna slapped him. Later, a BJP worker Laddu beat up Munna. The brawl sparked off communal violence that engulfed several parts of the City.
Ironically enough, neither Munna nor Neelu was arrested for the alleged quarrel. About the girl, who was allegedly teased, no one has any clue.
IG Rajendra Kumar admitted that the police were not sure who exactly the girl was. No one had lodged a complaint on the incident.
The Gautampura incident reeked of a more sinister design. Here communal violence flared up after the head of a calf was found near the Saraswati Shishu Mandir on February 10 afternoon. A mob of saffron hooligans soon gathered to demand the arrest of the “culprits” who belong to the Muslim community.
Even as senior officials were discussing the issue with protesters, the mob targeted shops of Muslims. Some vehicles were also damaged and burnt.
The post-mortem report on the calf revealed that it had died of some disease. SP Anshuman Yadav confirmed that the calf was beheaded after its death. This leads to the suspicion that some mischievous elements may have put the head in front of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir to provoke communal frenzy.
o o o
The Hindu
Curfew lifted in 4 violence-hit areas in Indore
Indore, Feb 14. (PTI): Curfew was on Tuesday lifted in four violence-hit areas and relaxed for two hours in three other affected localities to allow women to make necessary purchases, as no untoward incident was reported from the city.
As many as 163 persons were rounded up on charges of rioting in which seven persons were injured on Monday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Indore) Madhu Kumar Babu told PTI.
Curfew was lifted in Raoji Bazar, Sadar Bazar, Central Kotwali and Sarafa areas where prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were still in force, he said.
Curfew restrictions were relaxed for two hours in seven localities including Chhatripura, Pandarinath and Malharganj, he added.
The situation remained peaceful and women turned in large numbers to buy essential goods, Additional District Magistrate Rameshwar Gupta said.
Admit cards of students were being treated as curfew passes to allow them to appear in examinations being conducted in some schools and colleges, he said.
Violence had erupted after two groups pelted stones at each other in Bombay Bazar area, the police said, adding that agitated mobs damaged vehicle and ransacked shops prompting the police to fire in the air and lob tear gas shells to gain control.
o o o
The Times of India
Communal violence rocks Indore again
[ 13 Feb, 2007 0132hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
BHOPAL: Authorities imposed curfew in three police station areas in Indore city on Monday following a communal flare up over an eve-teasing incident. This was the third incident of communal violence in Indore in the last 10 days.
According to additional DGP (law & order) Surendra Singh, rouble began when a woman from the majority community was molested allegedly by a minority community member at Lodhipura.
People from both communities soon gathered at Lodhipura and clashed with each other, Singh said, adding that vehicles were torched and shops were vandalised.
The unrest then spread to three police station areas Malhargunj, Pandrinath and Chhatripura, Singh said, adding that the police had to fire teargas shells and lathicharge to disperse the irate mob. Additional security forces have also been deployed in the area.
o o o
Central Chronicle
February 13, 2007
Shoot at sight in Indore
Chronicle News Service
Indore, Feb 12: Eve-teasing incident sparked communal flare up and curfew has been imposed in three police stations Chatripura, Malharganj and Pandrinath here today. A shoot and sight order has been issued following the incidents, according to the administration.
According to sources an eve-teasing incident with a girl around 1.00 O clock created communal scene in the city and people were indulged in violent activities in various parts .
Arson, firing, loot and sword wielding were reported in the sensitive areas.
The people went berserk and damaged several vehicles and two-wheelers and also set few vehicles on fire.
As the news of violence spread, several market areas downed their shutters.
Prohibitory orders were soon clamped in three areas here today following stone pelting between two groups, which prompted the police to use mild force and teargas to disperse the crowd.
Teargas shells, whipping swords and violence in two groups and pelting stones at each other were seen in Narsingh Bazar, Bombay Bazaar, Chhatribagh, Raj Locality, Malganj, Malharganj etc. Besides, Rajbara, Pardesipura, Patnipura, Malwa Mill, Bhanwar Kuwa and other areas too were put under constant vigil.
The police used mild force to disperse the crowd, Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh Yadav said. The police were keeping watch in several areas.
No injuries were reported, he said adding the circumstances that led to violence were yet to be ascertained.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 were clamped in Pandrinath, Chhatripura and Malharganj police station areas as a precaution, Additional District Magistrate Rameshwar Gupta said.
Senior police and administrative officials have reached the spot and a tight vigil was being maintained to prevent any further flare up, he added.
Meanwhile, the state PWD Minister and local MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya while talking to a channel said that precautionary measures were taken to control the unruly mob in the city. He said the petty issue has turned into violence and added that the situation was however under control.
o o o
Indian Express
February 13, 2007
Battlelines drawn over Indore’s Karbala Maidan
Milind Ghatwai
Hindu groups want a temple at the ground traditionally used for Muharram rituals
INDORE, FEBRUARY 12: The Karbala Maidan in Indore, traditionally used for Muharram rituals, has become the turf of a bitter communal dispute in which the administration is uneasily caught. Hindu groups are pressing for permission to build a new temple in the middle of the ground and renovate another old one there.
Uma Bharati’s Bharatiya Janashakti Party wants to organise a Ramlila here and local BJP MLAs are saying the administration is giving in to the minority community and stonewalling temple-construction attempts.
The Hindu organisations want to construct a temple of Nagdevta on the ground and, a few days ago, had attempted to build an earthen mound. An alert administration, however, stepped in to level the spot. After that round-the-clock security has been deployed at the site.
The maidan till now mainly hosted a three-day mela at the time of Muharram. At one end stands a mazaar frequented by both Muslims and Hindus, and at the other, a small Hanuman temple where Hindus congregate in small numbers every Tuesday.
The open space around is used by the washermen to dry laundry. Official records make no mention of any temple and identify the ground as a place used to immerse tazias during Muharram. When the small rivulet behind the mazaar dried up, worshippers started burying the tazias there, a practice going on for years now.
The tension this year was the result of the first day of the Muharram mela falling on a Tuesday. A couple of years ago, it was the last day of the mela that fell on a Tuesday and the administration had invited the wrath of Hindu organisations by trying to control the maha-aarti at the Hanuman temple.
The Muslims say the land is notified as belonging to the Wakf Board. They want to build a wall that will leave the existing Hanuman temple outside its perimeter. Nasir Khan, secretary of the Karbala Committee, said that in addition to the wall, the committee also wanted to erect a “Hussaini Gate” at the entrance. He said the washermen could be relocated elsewhere.
According to him, the Hanuman temple came up only in 2001 and the maha-aarti programme started only two years ago. He claimed the number of worshippers hardly crossed double figures on Tuesdays and any new temple would turn the ground into a constant source of friction between the two communities.
Collector Vivek Agrawal says if at all a compound wall is required there, it will be put up by the government because the land belongs to it.
He said there was no question of allowing a Ramlila because permission could be granted only for functions being traditionally organised on the location.
Angered by the administration’s attitude, local BJP MLA Laxman Singh Gaud has warned of serious consequences if the majority community’s interests are not taken care of. “We want to repair the Hanuman temple and want worship to continue at the Nag temple,” he says. Agrawal, on the other hand, said no Nagdevta temple had ever existed there.
March 14, 2007)
Editorial
No let-up in violence: Anti-socials threaten harmony
Continued violence in Indore is a matter of concern not only for the state government but also for all the law abiding peace-loving people. While on Sunday, a mere incidence of eve-teasing at a public tap turned violent in the Razvi bazar area, on Monday itself in Chhatripura area at Kagdipura a motorcycle-rickshaw collision took an ugly turn resulting into a communal outbreak. Thus stone-pelting on rival groups, arson, loot and rampaging mob forced the district administration authorities to take stringent measures to bring the situation under control. Only recently Indore city had seen similar violence laced with communal passions threatening the very fabric of cultural amity which the state population is known for. Clearly, the apathetic attitude of the district police has given a chance - a free run in fact, to those anti-social elements who have hardly any regards for societal amity and peaceful co-existence. Had it not been so, in a peaceful multi-cultural city like Indore, violence had not occurred so spontaneously. These sporadic instances certainly contradict the claims of the state government of having control over the crime. Not only the state government but an alert district administration should always be ready to stop any such occurrences in the future. For, providing security to each and every citizen of the state is the universal duty of the state government. Unless the police administration is vigilant people will not feel safe which is also very important for peace in the society.
o o o
The Hindu
Mar 14, 2007
Tension in Indore
Staff Reporter
BHOPAL: Tension prevailed in Indore on Tuesday following a clash between members of two communities over a minor incident on Monday.
Heavy police pickets have been posted there to keep the situation under control.
According to reports received here, the clashes started at Dargah Chowki and soon mobs began pelting stones in the Taatpatti Bakhal and Ramdas Pura areas falling under the Chhatripura police station. The police used force and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the violent group on Monday night.
Several persons have been rounded up. Petrol bombs and sharp-edged weapons have been seized by the police.
o o o
The Times of India
13 Mar, 2007
Communal tension in Indore town
[ 13 Mar, 2007 1116hrs IST PTI ]
INDORE: Members of two communities indulged in stone-pelting following a minor accident, forcing the police to open fire in air and lob teargas shells in the Taatpatti Bakhal area in Indore.
The clash occurred late Monday night after a minor accident between two persons belonging to separate communities, leading to tension in the area, police said on Tuesday.
The situation was under control and no untoward incident has been reported since then, Additional SP Manoj Singh said, adding police have been deployed in the area and other sensitive places.
A case has been registered in this regard, but no arrests have been made so far, he said.
On March 11, tension gripped the Toda area of the city over a petty issue of filling up water from a tap, resulting in heavy stone-pelting.
o o o
HindustanTimes.com » Print Editions » Bhopal » Metro » Pg 1: Front »
Communal flare-ups reek of a sinister design
Punya Priya Mitra
Indore, February 19, 2007
Over a week after it witnessed a communal flare-up, Indore appears quiet on the surface. But beneath the deceptive calm in the City lurks a growing fear of any trivial incident triggering off communal violence. The fear stems from the recent experience. The communal frenzy was not the outcome of any spontaneous outpouring of anger. There was an unmistakable method in the madness.
Take for instance the suspected eve-teasing incident on February 12 that took no time in assuming a diabolical turn. It was alleged that Munna Mohammad teased a girl near his shop at Narsingh Bazar. When one Neelu Panchal protested, Munna slapped him. Later, a BJP worker Laddu beat up Munna. The brawl sparked off communal violence that engulfed several parts of the City.
Ironically enough, neither Munna nor Neelu was arrested for the alleged quarrel. About the girl, who was allegedly teased, no one has any clue.
IG Rajendra Kumar admitted that the police were not sure who exactly the girl was. No one had lodged a complaint on the incident.
The Gautampura incident reeked of a more sinister design. Here communal violence flared up after the head of a calf was found near the Saraswati Shishu Mandir on February 10 afternoon. A mob of saffron hooligans soon gathered to demand the arrest of the “culprits” who belong to the Muslim community.
Even as senior officials were discussing the issue with protesters, the mob targeted shops of Muslims. Some vehicles were also damaged and burnt.
The post-mortem report on the calf revealed that it had died of some disease. SP Anshuman Yadav confirmed that the calf was beheaded after its death. This leads to the suspicion that some mischievous elements may have put the head in front of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir to provoke communal frenzy.
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The Hindu
Curfew lifted in 4 violence-hit areas in Indore
Indore, Feb 14. (PTI): Curfew was on Tuesday lifted in four violence-hit areas and relaxed for two hours in three other affected localities to allow women to make necessary purchases, as no untoward incident was reported from the city.
As many as 163 persons were rounded up on charges of rioting in which seven persons were injured on Monday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Indore) Madhu Kumar Babu told PTI.
Curfew was lifted in Raoji Bazar, Sadar Bazar, Central Kotwali and Sarafa areas where prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were still in force, he said.
Curfew restrictions were relaxed for two hours in seven localities including Chhatripura, Pandarinath and Malharganj, he added.
The situation remained peaceful and women turned in large numbers to buy essential goods, Additional District Magistrate Rameshwar Gupta said.
Admit cards of students were being treated as curfew passes to allow them to appear in examinations being conducted in some schools and colleges, he said.
Violence had erupted after two groups pelted stones at each other in Bombay Bazar area, the police said, adding that agitated mobs damaged vehicle and ransacked shops prompting the police to fire in the air and lob tear gas shells to gain control.
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The Times of India
Communal violence rocks Indore again
[ 13 Feb, 2007 0132hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
BHOPAL: Authorities imposed curfew in three police station areas in Indore city on Monday following a communal flare up over an eve-teasing incident. This was the third incident of communal violence in Indore in the last 10 days.
According to additional DGP (law & order) Surendra Singh, rouble began when a woman from the majority community was molested allegedly by a minority community member at Lodhipura.
People from both communities soon gathered at Lodhipura and clashed with each other, Singh said, adding that vehicles were torched and shops were vandalised.
The unrest then spread to three police station areas Malhargunj, Pandrinath and Chhatripura, Singh said, adding that the police had to fire teargas shells and lathicharge to disperse the irate mob. Additional security forces have also been deployed in the area.
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Central Chronicle
February 13, 2007
Shoot at sight in Indore
Chronicle News Service
Indore, Feb 12: Eve-teasing incident sparked communal flare up and curfew has been imposed in three police stations Chatripura, Malharganj and Pandrinath here today. A shoot and sight order has been issued following the incidents, according to the administration.
According to sources an eve-teasing incident with a girl around 1.00 O clock created communal scene in the city and people were indulged in violent activities in various parts .
Arson, firing, loot and sword wielding were reported in the sensitive areas.
The people went berserk and damaged several vehicles and two-wheelers and also set few vehicles on fire.
As the news of violence spread, several market areas downed their shutters.
Prohibitory orders were soon clamped in three areas here today following stone pelting between two groups, which prompted the police to use mild force and teargas to disperse the crowd.
Teargas shells, whipping swords and violence in two groups and pelting stones at each other were seen in Narsingh Bazar, Bombay Bazaar, Chhatribagh, Raj Locality, Malganj, Malharganj etc. Besides, Rajbara, Pardesipura, Patnipura, Malwa Mill, Bhanwar Kuwa and other areas too were put under constant vigil.
The police used mild force to disperse the crowd, Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh Yadav said. The police were keeping watch in several areas.
No injuries were reported, he said adding the circumstances that led to violence were yet to be ascertained.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 were clamped in Pandrinath, Chhatripura and Malharganj police station areas as a precaution, Additional District Magistrate Rameshwar Gupta said.
Senior police and administrative officials have reached the spot and a tight vigil was being maintained to prevent any further flare up, he added.
Meanwhile, the state PWD Minister and local MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya while talking to a channel said that precautionary measures were taken to control the unruly mob in the city. He said the petty issue has turned into violence and added that the situation was however under control.
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Indian Express
February 13, 2007
Battlelines drawn over Indore’s Karbala Maidan
Milind Ghatwai
Hindu groups want a temple at the ground traditionally used for Muharram rituals
INDORE, FEBRUARY 12: The Karbala Maidan in Indore, traditionally used for Muharram rituals, has become the turf of a bitter communal dispute in which the administration is uneasily caught. Hindu groups are pressing for permission to build a new temple in the middle of the ground and renovate another old one there.
Uma Bharati’s Bharatiya Janashakti Party wants to organise a Ramlila here and local BJP MLAs are saying the administration is giving in to the minority community and stonewalling temple-construction attempts.
The Hindu organisations want to construct a temple of Nagdevta on the ground and, a few days ago, had attempted to build an earthen mound. An alert administration, however, stepped in to level the spot. After that round-the-clock security has been deployed at the site.
The maidan till now mainly hosted a three-day mela at the time of Muharram. At one end stands a mazaar frequented by both Muslims and Hindus, and at the other, a small Hanuman temple where Hindus congregate in small numbers every Tuesday.
The open space around is used by the washermen to dry laundry. Official records make no mention of any temple and identify the ground as a place used to immerse tazias during Muharram. When the small rivulet behind the mazaar dried up, worshippers started burying the tazias there, a practice going on for years now.
The tension this year was the result of the first day of the Muharram mela falling on a Tuesday. A couple of years ago, it was the last day of the mela that fell on a Tuesday and the administration had invited the wrath of Hindu organisations by trying to control the maha-aarti at the Hanuman temple.
The Muslims say the land is notified as belonging to the Wakf Board. They want to build a wall that will leave the existing Hanuman temple outside its perimeter. Nasir Khan, secretary of the Karbala Committee, said that in addition to the wall, the committee also wanted to erect a “Hussaini Gate” at the entrance. He said the washermen could be relocated elsewhere.
According to him, the Hanuman temple came up only in 2001 and the maha-aarti programme started only two years ago. He claimed the number of worshippers hardly crossed double figures on Tuesdays and any new temple would turn the ground into a constant source of friction between the two communities.
Collector Vivek Agrawal says if at all a compound wall is required there, it will be put up by the government because the land belongs to it.
He said there was no question of allowing a Ramlila because permission could be granted only for functions being traditionally organised on the location.
Angered by the administration’s attitude, local BJP MLA Laxman Singh Gaud has warned of serious consequences if the majority community’s interests are not taken care of. “We want to repair the Hanuman temple and want worship to continue at the Nag temple,” he says. Agrawal, on the other hand, said no Nagdevta temple had ever existed there.
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