On
21st December, 2013 I along with Shruti Nagvanshi(Convenor: Voice of People),
Major Dr. Himanshu(A famous social activist) and Taj Muhammad (PVCHR staff) visited
the camp in Islamic Madarsa at Shahpur of Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, India
and found the condition of the camp is quite pathetic and the inhumane act with
the 42 families of survivors of communal riot. But in night of 22 December they
were forced by the Madarsas administration to vacate the place due to the
pressure of the administration. In the camp around 15 people from three
villages Sisauli, Shoram and Goyala were residing which is famous for the Khap
panchayat. It is noted that Sisauli village is resident of famous Jat leader.
So, district administration does not want to identify the 15 families of
survivors of above mentioned three villages as survivors of communal riot. These survivors belong to lower caste Muslim
and mostly working as labour in brick kiln factory. Now 5 pregnant women are
living, 3 new born child are dead due to cold and no-treatment. I was shocked
after listening their testimonies of pain, agony, apathy of administration and
in human treatment through organized violence. Women told their story of sexual
assault through making naked and verbal abuses in front of masses. A girl of
Dulehara is missing.
It
is noted that the first incident of gang-rape came to light in the aftermath of
the riots from the village of Fugana in Jogiya Kheda. Two fresh cases of rape
were registered in October. It was reported on 15 November 2013 that a total of
13 rape cases and sexual harassment were registered over the past two months of
rioting and the report named 111 people in the incidents but no arrests had
been made till then.
Before
our visit, National Human Rights Commission started spot visit of Muzzafarnagr
and Shamali relive camp. After our visit, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi
on 22 December 2013 lamented the "deplorable" conditions at the
relief camps housing hundreds of riot affected families of Muzaffarnagar and
adjoining areas, and asked the "young" chief minister of Uttar
Pradesh to improve the situation.
"Many
children have died in the camps. The situation is deplorable... There is a need
to mediate and improve life there," Rahul said as he made an unscheduled
visit to the relief camps and some of the violence-hit areas. The Congress
leader, who is seeking to revive the party's fortunes after its drubbing in the
recent Assembly elections, also targeted Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over his
handling of the relief work. "There is a young chief minister. The state
government should improve the situation. The CM should look into it."
According
to different reliable sources, fresh battle lines are being drawn in Muzaffarnagar’s
rural areas as Muslims and Jats harden respective stances against the local
administration’s “inefficient and unfair action” in dealing with communal
violence in the past three months.
Three
panchayats — one Muslim and two Jat — took place on Friday though the
administration had banned these after Jats returning from a Mahapanchayat on
September 7 were attacked at various villages. On September 8, Jats killed over
50 Muslims in retaliation and the violence hasn’t stopped ever since.
On
Thursday night, a police party went to Kutba village to arrest those
responsible for the September 8 violence but the villagers fired at it,
damaging at least six police vehicles. Six Muslims had been killed in Kutba on
September 8.
Another
panchayat took place in Hussainpur, where three Muslim boys were killed on
Wednesday. It demanded the killers’ arrest and a `25 lakh compensation to the
families.
At
Mohammadpurraisingh village, where the third meeting was held, the panchayat
said it might convene a bigger panchayat on November 6.
Interestingly,
the meeting called all communities, including Muslims, to join the November 6
gathering.
Clashes
between two communities in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, India began 27 August
2013. The original cause of the rioting is disputed, by partisan claims largely
concerning the affected communities. In this case, the cause of this rioting
alternates between a traffic accident and eve-teasing. According to the first
version, a minor traffic accident involving some youths and then spiralled out
of control when it eventually took on religious overtones. In the second
version, a girl from the Hindu Jat community was allegedly harassed in an
Eve-teasing incident by one Muslim youth in Kawal village. In retaliation,
Hindu relatives of the girl in question, Sachin Singh and Gaurav Singh, killed
the youth named Shahnawaz Qureshi. The two brothers were lynched by a Muslim
mob when they tried to escape. The police arrested eleven members of the girl's
family for the killing of the Muslim youth. According to some locals, the
police did not act against the killers of the Hindu brothers. According to
police records, Gaurav and Sachin picked a fight with Shahnawaz over a
motorcycle accident. While it has been widely reported that the fight was
sparked off when Shahnawaz harassed Gaurav and Sachin’s cousin sister, the FIR
in the murder makes no mention of sexual harassment or molestation.
NDTV
carried a contradictory report on the Kawwal village incident. The girl who was
allegedly harassed by Shahnawaz commented that she had not gone to Kalwal or
known anybody by name of Shahnawaz, but she indicated that harassment by Muslim
youth were common in Kawwal. There were no mentions of harassment in police
records on that particular day. Shahnawaz's father claims that the problem
started when their vehicles collided. In the FIR registered for Shahnawaz's
death, five people along with Sachin and Gaurav were named to be responsible
for his death. The reports mentions that the seven men entered Shahnawaz home,
took him out and killed him with swords and knives. Shahnawaz had later died on
the way to hospital. In the FIR registers for Sachin and Gaurav's death, 7
other men were reported to be responsible, with the root cause to be an
altercation between a person named as Mujassim and Gaurav after a bike
accident.
After
news of the killings spread, the members of both communities attacked each
other. The police took possession of the three dead bodies, and temporarily
brought the situation under control. The authorities also deployed Provincial
Armed Constabulary personnel in the village.
BJP
MLA Sangeet Som was arrested and received bail for alleged involvement in fake
video uploading case depicting Hindu youth brutally murdered by Muslim mob and
making provocative speeches.
After
visit of camp, I remembered the remark of Edmund Burke on India, “In that
Country the law of religion, the laws of the land, and the law of honour, are
all united and consolidated in one, and bind a man eternally to the rule of
what is called his caste.”
My
kind request to Government at provincial and central level for immediate
shelter under right to life with dignity guarantee under article 21 of the
constitution of India, and immediately ensure permanent pro-survivor
rehabilitation based on hope, honor and human dignity as a normal life through
ensure to recognize voice of voiceless survivor.
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