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Communalism and the Role of the
State: An Investigation into the Communal Violence in Muzaffarnagar and its
Aftermath
A Report
December, 2013
Prof Mohan Rao (JNU), Prof Ish Mishra (DU),
Ms Pragya Singh (Journalist) & Dr Vikas Bajpai
(JNU)
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Communalism and the Role of the State: An Investigation into the Communal
Violence in Muzaffarnagar and its Aftermath
Table of Contents
Introduction
The rural areas and
towns of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, Uttar Pradesh, have recently
witnessed severe communal violence. Many
Muslims fled their villages and have been accommodated in “camps”. Many of them
are refusing to return to their villages even three months later. There have also
been continuing incidents of communal attacks even into late October and
November 2013. Although there have been
other reports of fact finding teams, the factors above led us to tour some of the
severest hit areas and some of the camps where Muslim refugees are living. We
also visited Mohammedpur Raisingh and Hussainpur villages where killings
occurred on October 30. Even before it appeared in the press we had learnt that
the Samajwadi Party government of Uttar Pradesh was making Muslims sign
affidavits forfeiting the right to return to their villages and all legal claim
over their immovable property in order to avail of five lakh compensation
amount. We found this disturbing and wanted to check the veracity of this.
Objectives of our visit:
1. To
investigate the role of state agencies in either preventing or containing
violence, in taking appropriate punitive actions against the guilty and also to
investigate some incidents of communal violence.
2. To
investigate the role of the government in providing relief and rehabilitating
the displaced and the progress made in displaced people going back to their
villages and homes.
3. To
understand the economic, social and political reasons that led to the recent
spate of communal violence in this area of Western Uttar Pradesh.
We constituted a team
of four persons: Prof. Ish Misra, Dept of Political Science, Hindu College,
Delhi University, Professor Mohan Rao, Centre for Social Medicine and
Community Health, JNU Dr. Vikas Bajpai, Ph.D. Scholar, Centre for Social
Medicine & Community Health, JNU and Ms.Pragya Singh, Journalist. The team
visited the area on November 9th and 10th. Some members of the team also
visited earlier and again later on November 27. This team was also assisted by
Dr. Subhash Tyagi, Professor of Geography, Machra College, Meerut and Praveen
Raj Tyagi, Principal Greenland Public School, Duhai, Ghaziabad.
It is often difficult
to piece facts together in a surcharged atmosphere where facts are often buried
under the heap of propaganda, with narratives repeated so often and propagated
so widely that listeners believe them to be fact. Questions are neither raised
nor allowed to be raised. Our task was all the more difficult as the hard
evidence of the incidents was difficult to come by; we have therefore refrained
from drawing conclusions when such was the case.
Summary of the findings
1. Who suffered the most
The overwhelming weight of evidence points towards
the fact that Muslims have disproportionately been at the receiving end of the
communal orgy that swept Muzaffarnagar during the months of September and
October 2013 in terms of loss to life and property and displacement of people
from their homes and villages. As per the information available from the Senior
Superintendent Police’s ( SSP) office a total of 52 people died in the communal
disturbances of whom 37 were Muslims and
15 were Hindus (although we could not get the formal caste-wise break-up of the
Hindu deaths, there are strong reasons to believe that these were almost
exclusively among the Jats). While
deaths among the Hindus took place in the violence that ensued the Jat
Mahapanchayat at Nangla Mandaur on 8th September, the Muslim deaths
have taken place in different villages over a period of time apparently in much
more planned attacks. None of the Jat deaths were the result out of violence
generally directed against Hindus, but were of the Jats who were returning form
the Mahapanchayat and who deliberately provoked the Muslims while passing
through their areas / villages. There are no reports of Jats and the Hindus
otherwise living in these areas / villages being attacked by Muslims.
As per unofficial sources as many as 100,000 Muslims
had been displaced from their homes while by the time of our visit the
government acknowledged that 50,955 persons had been displaced and were accommodated in 11 relief camps. A total
of 540 FIRs have been registered in riot-related incidents, in which around
6000 people have been named. The police stations include Jansath, Kotwali,
Sisauli, Nayi Mandi, Shahpur, Bhudana, Bhopa, Bhaura Kala, Phugana, Meerapur and Mansoorpur.
At present a team of two SPs, four DSPs
and 50 Inspectors/Sub Inspectors are involved in the investigation of cases.
2. Conditions at the relief camps and impact of displacement
The conditions of the relief camps visited by the
team were pathetic, to say the least. The camps were in the form of tents
pitched close to each other either in the local madarsas (as in Bassi Kalan) or
empty plots of land (as in Shahpur village) The camps were bereft of any civic
amenities worth their name.
- In
terms of displacement from their homes in the nearby villages this
amounted to loss of security of a roof over their head, leading to
increased exposure to anti-social elements especially of females in
general and young girls in
particular. This has led to increased worries for parents regarding the safety of their
children, especially of adolescent
girls, and could in all likelihood be the reason for a number of marriages
among young girls that have been reported from these camps.
- Displacement
has also meant a loss of livelihood for many of the riot affected Muslim
families living in the camps. Most of these families are of artisans or
petty traders who are finding it difficult to carry on with their trade
under the circumstances and are now totally dependent on charity hand-outs. Loss of security of their homes,
livelihoods and the insecurity regarding the future costs heavily with the victims.
Particularly affected has been the
education of the children of affected families, especially of girls.
- Almost
all the families interviewed at the camps reported that they did not want
to go back to their homes as they feared for their lives. The people
responsible for killing their brethren, looting and destroying their
property were still at large and brazenly moving around in the villages,
they said.
3. Role of the state and communal organizations in relief measures
- There
is a near total absence of state agencies in the relief efforts mounted
for the riot victims. On the face of it, the relief camps are being
organized by religious / communal (as belonging to a religious community)
organizations of the Muslims among which the Jamait Ulema-e-Hind was the
most prominent. Whatever little relief was provided by the state agencies
earlier were also routed through the communal organizations of the
minority community. The earlier report on Muzaffarnagar riots brought out
by the Center for Policy Analysis quotes the district magistrate as saying
that the administration was providing relief to the victims through the
religious organizations of the minority community as they were better
positioned to provide succour and comfort the victims.
- It
was said by officials of the administration on November 27 that all
displaced persons have either gone back to their homes or have been
resettled elsewhere. Hence, neither do any relief camps exist on official
records as on date, nor is any relief being provided by the government to
the riot-displaced persons. In fact, the camps continue to exist even
after withdrawal of state support and, as per statements of residents in
the camps, they are being increasingly pressurized to vacate the camps at
the earliest, especially if they have accepted government compensation
along with its attached conditions.
- The
state government has announced a compensation of Rs 12 lakh to the
families who lost their kin in communal violence and a compensation of Rs
5 lakh to those displaced from their homes. However, as per the affidavit
to be signed by the beneficiaries, the compensation of Rs 5 lakh is
conditional to following certain stringent terms which include:
Ø “That
myself and members of my family have come leaving our village and home being
terrorized due to violent incidents in ……… village and we will not now return to our original village and home under any circumstances”.
Ø “That
the lumpsum financial help being given for my family by the government will
only be used by me to rehabilitate my family. By this money I will live with my
family voluntarily arranging for residence at appropriate place elsewhere”.
Ø “That
in the condition of receiving lumpsum financial help amount, myself or members
of my family will not demand compensation
relating to any damage to any immovable property in my village or elsewhere”.
·
The families at the camps reported
numerous difficulties in availing of the promised relief such as difficulty in
understanding the language of the official documents and the forms required to
be filled, arranging identification papers for opening of bank accounts under
circumstances when the victims fled from their homes with virtually no
belongings and their names being missing in the list of claimants.
·
It was also reported that as much as Rs
20,000 was being collected by the local relief committees from those receiving
compensation in lieu of the homes to be built for them.
4. Role of the police in preventing / abetting communal violence
There
are two instances here that are indicative of police’s laxity or even
complicity in the killing of Muslims that took place in Muzaffarnagar.
·
The first incident is that of Qutba
village on the September 8th, in which eight people were killed by a mob
comprising of people from the village itself. These killings took place
although police personnel were posted in the very same village at the time of
the incident. The police personnel refused to provide any protection to the
victims, and, in fact, are reported to have locked the Muslims who approached
them for help in the village pradhan’s house.
·
The second incident is of the killing of
three Muslim youth on October 30 in Mohammadpur Raisingh village. This incident
is the latest major episode of communal killing in Muzaffarnagar after the
September rioting. A posse of policemen are reported to have been present in
this village too, when the killings took place. The police claims that it was
present at the far end of the village, away from where the incident occurred,
and so did not know of the incident. However, the fact that the Jats felt free
to commit the murders while the police was stationed in the village itself
speaks of the kind of restraint that police has been able to ensure.
·
Many press reports now say that the
Muslims who have gone back to their villages are being pressurized to withdraw
complaints against persons they had named in FIRs. The pradhan of Hussainpur
village informed in a telephonic conversation on the December 12 that no
further arrests have taken place in the murders of three youths from his
village that took place on October 30 at Mohammadpur Raisingh. He further stated
that police is also accepting bribes to
weaken the cases against persons named in FIRs.
5. Is it Jat versus Muslims or Hindus versus Muslims?
It
has been reported that lower caste Hindus also participated in attacks on
Muslims along with the Jats in different villages. However, the Muslims whom we
interviewed in the relief camps felt that wherever the lower caste Hindus acted
against them it was under the pressure of the Jats as the Jats were the
dominant Hindu caste in the area and the lower caste Hindus had little option
but to follow the diktat of the Jats.
On
visiting the villages, the distinct caste hierarchies were observed in the
structure of the villages, and also in terms of the involvement of different
castes in the decision making processes. For example in the 35 biradari
panchayat that was convened in Mohammadpur Raisingh on the November 10,
representatives of all the upper castes were invited but none from the lower
castes.
It
is however noteworthy that no communal violence has been reported from any of
the Muslim dominated villages in the district. Simultaneously, there were Jat
dominated villages where the Jats took up the responsibility of protecting
their Muslim brethren. Some of these villages were Kheda Gani, Garhi Novabad,
Garhi Jaitpur and Kurawa.
6.
Attitude of Jats towards Muslims
We
could not find any remorse among the Jats for the suffering being faced by the Muslims.
They rather heaped insult to the injury of Muslims as reflected by the following:
·
Without regard to the miserable
conditions in the camps Jats said that Muslims have left the villages lured by
the greed of Rs 5 lakh compensation announced by the government for the displaced
families and that there was no threat to their life or property in the
villages.
·
The “Muslims were showing even joint
families living under one roof as separate families in order to claim more
compensation.”
·
That Muslims had themselves destroyed
their property and inflated their losses to demand more compensation.
·
There was no regret even for loss of
life on the part of Muslims. For example with respect to Kawal incident it was
said that “while the involved Hindu family lost their only sons the loss of life of the Muslim boy was
inconsequential to the family as he had many siblings.”
These
comments were accompanied by the more generic comments reserved for Muslims
e.g. that they did not follow family planning and had large families and their
loyalties to the country were suspect. “They want to reduce us to minorities in
our own country” it was asserted and that - “First they wanted Pakistan, now
they want an independent Kashmir and have driven out all the Hindus from
Kashmir. The same thing will happen here in a few years.” It was remarkable
that these comments were repeated in almost the same words by all the Jats we
met irrespective of the distance that separated their villages. This is
probably indicative of a well-organized campaign over a period of time towards
communalizing the atmosphere in the entire area.
7.
What Muslims felt
Muslims we spoke to in the camps and in some villages were at a loss to
fathom the viciousness with which they had been attacked by the people from
their own villages with whom they had lived peacefully for so long. In some villages
“they were chased
out by Jat boys carrying swords and javelins.” This, along with the fact that many of their
attackers were roaming free, seemed to have convinced them of the futility of
ever returning to their villages.
Detailed findings
The ostensible genesis–killings
at Kaval
The eruption of
violence between Muslims and Jats in this area ostensibly started with an
incident in Kaval village, a Muslim majority village in Muzaffarnagar district.
On August 27, 2013, two Jat youth from Malikpura Majra, right next to Kaval ,
accosted a Muslim youth named Shahnawaz and killed him. These two young men,
Sachin Malik and Gaurav Malik, were later killed by the people assembled there.
There are conflicting versions regarding the exact course of events which led
to these killings. These versions have also appeared in the press. According to
one version the entire incident was on account of Shahnawaz “eve teasing”
Sachin’s sister and Gaurav’s cousin who hailed from Malikpura Majra. On the
other hand the FIR registered by Shahnawaz’s father against the two Jat boys,
Sachin and Gaurav, states that the fight was over a motorcycle.
It is also reported in
the Minorities Commission(MC) report on the Muzaffarnagar riots that the father
of Shahnawaz told the MC team on September 19 that the real issue was of a
minor accident involving collision of a motorcycle with bicycles. This is also
the story published in The Statesman. Shahnawaz’s father also told
the MC team that his son used to work in Chennai and was only visiting the
family. However, what is now commonly stated was that it was revenge for the
“eve-teasing” by Shahnawaz.
One of our team members
could however meet the girl from Malikpura who is mentioned in the case. The following
is her version of the story:
She alleged that Shahnawaz used to
“abuse” her (“gali deta tha”) as and
when she passed through Kaval on her way to college, and that this was a
regular occurrence. Her brother or father used to accompany her from time to
time as a safety precaution. On August 27, the day this fight took place, she
was in a bus and her brother was with her. Shahnawaz abused her again as they
passed through Kaval. At this moment, her brother Sachin got down from the bus
to confront Shahnawaz. Sachin’s cousin Gaurav was also standing by (though it
is not known whether he was incidentally there or as per a prior plan). The two
together accosted Shahnawaz. “I don’t know what happened after that,” she said.
Her
other complaint was that the family is not being permitted to step outside the
village. There are three Provincial
Armed Constabulary
(PAC) men
posted at their house. “The police and administration is being forced not to
take the right action against the accused. Till now I was not scared of going
to college or outside the house, but now I am,” she said.
Given the way things
are it is very difficult to comment authoritatively on the exact sequence of
events unless there is a through enquiry into the whole incident. However, one
thing that emerged from our interaction with people, both the Jats and the
Muslims, is that had the administration and the police acted with some wisdom
and resoluteness the subsequent turn of events could surely have been
prevented.
It should however be
noted that the sexual harassment of young women is rampant in the country, and
particularly in UP. The Kaval incident
was one such incident, but it was effectively propagated and given a communal
colour by communal forces themselves deeply patriarchal and not known for their
commitment to gender justice.
Moreover, this entire
incident should be placed in the context of the fact that this area of UP has
recently been known for Jat Khap panchayats endorsing murders of girls from the
region and their spouses, should they stray from the “norms” set by the Khaps.
Described as “honour killings”, they have invited condemnation by the Supreme
Court. This area is also known for a steeper rate of sex selective abortions
and infanticide, with sex ratios more skewed than both the national and state
average. The overall Sex Ratio in this district is 871 females to 1000 males
while the average in the state of UP is 898 females to 1000 males. This is also
of course due to selective male migration from the area in search of jobs. The
Child Sex Ratio in this district is 863 girls to 1000 boys against the all-India
figure of 919 girls to 1000 boys as per the 2011 Census.
News of any incident
“violating” the caste code supervised and enforced by Khap panchayats gets
propagated far and wide and the violators are punished, often with death. Any
choice marriage, especially if inter-religious, becomes a scandal and draws
condemnation. While the Khaps may be powerless to enforce their “sentences” in
some cases, this is not the case when the “offenders” are within reach. Of the
total cases of Khap violence recorded in various reports, the issue of
intra-gotra or inter-caste marriages dominate the list. While inter-religious
relationships are few, news of each such case is propagated widely. The
Hindutva organizations have even given it a name—“Love Jihad”—when the girl
happens to be a Hindu. Orthodox elements among Muslims are also resentful of
Muslim girls going out with Hindu boys/men and attribute this to their poverty.
Feudal patriarchal
society has seized the chance in controlling “their” young women under the
slogan of “bahu beti izzat” which
also fits nicely into the propaganda blitz of Hindutva. The Kaval incident was
disseminated widely on social media through a doctored three minute clip with a
Punjabi song in the background. The video features people wearing clothes that
just not worn in Muzaffarnagar, and has been traced to Punjab province in
Pakistan. It is also known to be an over two year old video, and not of Sachin
and Gaurav Malik. This dissemination was done precisely to inflame communal
anxieties and fears and vitiate the atmosphere.
Further events
according to the Report of the MC:
28th August:
People returning from the cremation of Sachin and Gaurav, set fire to a hutment
and to a hut in a brick-kiln and damaged 27 houses in Kaval.
29th August:
The Shiv Mandir in village Kaval was damaged following which there was stone
throwing between Muslims and Jats.
30th August:
A Jan Sabha of Muslims took place at Shaheed Chowk, Muzaffarnagar. There are
many versions of what transpired there. The MC was given a CD to support the claim that the
Sabha was an appeal for calm. Another source says Muslims held afternoon
prayers at Kaval, where political leaders, including the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) Member of Parliament Qadir Rana, were present and where fiery speeches
were made.
31st August:
During a Shok Sabha for the two Jat boys in village Nangal Mandaur, an Alto car
in which Amroha Muslims were travelling, was overturned and burnt and the
occupants beaten up. A policeman at Kaval also told us that a Muslim youth was
assaulted at Meenakshi Chowk in Muzaffarnagar.
The Nangala Jat Maha Panchayat
and Prelude
On September 5th, in
the Jat majority village of Lisarh (District Shamli, P.S. Phugana) a panchayat
of Jats was called by Chaudhry Harkishan Baba of Gathwala Khap, Chaudhry Naresh
Tikait of Baliyan Khap and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) President Rakesh Tikait.
The Jat village pradhans of the area attended. This panchayat announced that a
Mahapanchayat would be held on September 7th at village Nangla Mandaur. Nangala
Mandaur is close to Kaval and en route from Bijnor city to Muzaffarnagar, lying
closer to Muzaffarnagar. Information of this panchayat was given to our team in
Bassi Kalan village, in the two relief camps at Shahpur as also at other
places.
Jats from
Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Bagpat, Budhana, Ghaziabad, District Bijnor and, some
reports say, even Haryana, reached the venue on September 7th, by and large in
tractor trolleys. The mobilization was mainly of Baliyan Jats (corroborated by
the fact that no violence took place North of Muzaffarnagar, where this Jat communy was not dominant). The tractor trolleys had
Jats armed with lathis, ballams (lances), swords and tamanchas (country made
pistols). Some Jats told our team on November 9th that the tractors carried
large stones at the bottom. While Jats claim that a lakh or more people
participated, the MC Report estimates are of 40,000 and other reports are of
20,000 people attending this panchayat. However the names of the speakers are
not in dispute. Both the press reports and all non-Jat sources say that the speeches
made were venomous. Other speakers included the MLA of Bijnor Sadar, Bharatendu
Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Swami Omvesh, BJP MLA Sangeet Som,
Suresh Rana, Hukum Singh Neta (BJP), Naresh Tikait and Rakesh Tikait.
On the same day, the
BJP had called for a bandh in Muzaffarnagar town. One Muslim boy, Israr, a
photographer from village Kandhla was killed near the panchayat. He had been
brought there by the police (!) to videograph the proceedings. While this
panchayat was still on, the same evening, a riot broke out at Khalapar (a
Muslim-dominanted area of Muzaffarnagar) in which two ( ? Jats) people were
killed, one of them a journalist.
On the way to Mandaur,
tractor trollies from Lisarh passed through Bassi Kalan, a Muslim majority
village near Shahpur. Eyewitnesses in Bassi Kalan told our team that the
trolleys from Lisarh stopped outside the Madarsa and raised provocative slogans
including “Narender Modi zindabad”, “Muslamanon ke do sthan, Qabristan ya
Pakistan”. A dog adorned with a burqa was seated in a tempo, and was being “beaten”
with shoes. When some Muslim youth objected, one youth was attacked with a
sword resulting in cuts on two-three fingers; a pregnant Muslim woman was
attacked with a bhala (spear), and she fell bleeding. The CO police reached the
spot along with a force but the Jats continued their activities in front of
them. They later left for the Mahapanchayat, where, according to the MC report, they told other participants that
Muslims of Bassi Kalan had attacked them.
In Bassi Kalan itself
the police did not register any complaint against the Jats, but along with the
administration, it prevailed upon the trolley-riders to change their routes for
the return journey. Bassi Kalan residents said the situation was very tense on
that day.
Similarly, when our
team went to Pur Baliyan we learned that the Jat trolleys crossing the village
on that day had also provoked the Muslims. Incidentally, a Jat kabbadi teacher whom the team met near
Kakada village on November 9th told us that the Muslims attacked Jats at ten
places while they were on their way to attend the Mahapanchayat, and that the
entire subsequent violence was due to this. He also said that if the Jat youth
were raising the slogan of “Narendra Modi zindabad,” it hardly mattered as the young
in the entire country was doing so. However, Muslims at different places and
also a Tyagi pradhan of village Khubbapur whom we met on November 9th and who
had volunteered to introduce our team to his acquaintances in Kakada village,
told us that Jat trolleys did their utmost to provoke Muslim dominated villages
en route, and threw stones at the Madarsas at several places. Ansar, s/o Wakil
of village Gadi, district Shamli who had driven a bus of Jats to the
Mahapanchayat was beaten to death (recorded in the MC report), though it is not
clear where this occurred.
Post Panchayat Mayhem Against
Muslims.
On September 7th, while
the trolleys were returning from the Mahapanchayat at Nangla Mandaur incidents
of violence were reported from several places. We investigated the incident
that took place at Pur Baliyan which falls on the road to Muzaffarnagar city
from Nangla Mandaur.
It is at Pur Baliyan
that the maximum casualties among Jats have been reported. It was said that
around 20-25 trolleys of Jats returning from the Mahapanchayat stopped at Pur
Baliyan at around 6.30 in the evening and began stoning the people offering
namaz at the masjid. The Jats also set fire to some structures. Police arrived
at the scene and prevailed upon the Jats to leave the spot, whereupon they went
to village Bhopada, spent the night there, and left for their own villages at 6
the next morning.
Local eyewitnesses told
us that later that evening two more tractor trollies—one belonging to Jats from
Sohram village and the other of Jats from Kakada village—crossed Pur Baliyan.
Three or four Muley Jat families living along the main road that passes through
Pur Baliyan were awaiting the return of the troublemaking sloganeers, and
stoned their trollies. (Muley Jats are Jats who converted to Islam). The
intention of the Muley Jats was to attack the tractor of Jats from Sohram
village. The tractor was ferrying some family members of the pradhan of Sohram.
(It
is understood that there was an old rivalry between the Muley Jats and Jats of
Sohram. It appears that the Muley Jats of Sohram had planned to attack the
trolley of Sohram Jats with the help of Muley Jats of Pur Baliyan.)
However, the evening of
this incident, the Jats in the Sohram tractor opened fire from their firearms
and sped away. Incidentally, a tractor trolley from Kakada that was following
the Sohram trolley was hit by bullets and burst a tyre. As a result, the Jats
of Kakada were attacked by Muley Jats of Pur Baliyan. Three Jat youth of Kakada
were killed on the spot by stoning. The postmortem reports of all the three
youth, which were accessed by the team, corroborate this method of death.
Another elderly person from Kakada, who sustained head injury in this incident,
later died in the Medical College Hospital at Meerut.
It needs to be
mentioned here that there was no prior dispute between Jats and Muslims of
Kakada, or even between the Jats of Kakada and Muslims of Pur Baliyan. This was
corroborated by the Jat Pradhan of Kakada whom we met on November 9th. The
Muley Jat families and other Muslims of Pur Baliyan also did not harm the Jat
families living in Pur Baliyan itself. Their problems seem to have been with
the Jats of Sohram village. Jats we met maintain that 10 Baliyan Jats were
killed on the evening of September 7.
Sanjiv Baliyan (the kabaddi teacher at Kakada) said that
there were 28 incidents of attacks on Muslims in various parts of the area that
night itself. According to the MC report, Jats were attacked while returning at
Joli canal bridge (P.S. Bhopa) and at four other places, resulting in six
deaths, including two of Muslims. On the night of September 7th itself, curfew
was imposed by district authorities in Muzzafarnagar city as well as the dehat. In Muzaffarnagar city, shops belonging
to Muslims were burnt at Bhagra Tonga Stand (confirmed by the administration
and mentioned in the MC report)
From the night of September 7th
itself, began attacks on Muslims in the area. The administration told the MC
that these were in villages Qutba, Kutbi, Lankh, Lisarh, Bahawadi, Phugana,
Mohammadpur Raisingh, Kakada, Kharad, Mohammadpur Modern and Atali.
On September 8th, the Army moved
into the towns of Jansath, Bhaura Kalan, Shahpur, Phugana, Budhana, Bhopa, and
other places, from where they were withdrawn only on September 17th.
Rumours ran rife the whole
intervening night of September 7th-8th: ”100 mar diye, 500 mar diye”
(a hundred have been killed, five hundred have been killed). The administration
had by night received confirmation of five to six deaths in the entire area but
this was not effectively communicated to the people. On September 8th, no
newspapers were circulated either. Thus rumors ran riot. Though it is difficult
to say so authoritatively, as is the wont in such situations, vested interests
could have deliberately spread, or allowed rumors to be spread, in order to
orchestrate the violence against Muslims that followed.
Whatever the case, the
administration certainly failed to remedy the situation.
Of these incidents, we are able to
detail the experiences at Qutba and Kutbi, whose refugees we met at refugee
camps, Shahpur Camp No 1 and 2 on November 9th. We visited Kakada on 9th
Nov and met the residents and the pradhan. We also went to Mohammadpur Raisingh
on November 10th. In addition, refugees at the camps told us of incidents in
other villages (Sisauli, Qutba, Kutbi, Kadowli, Bainswara.)
The Story of Qutba and Kutbi
Villages:
In Qutba, the village pradhan is a
woman, Meena, whose husband Devinder (Pradhanpati) exercises power. This
pradhan had been supported in the past three elections by Muslims of the
village. Devinder spent the night of September 7th in Bhopada. Muslims of his
village called him several times through the night asking him to return, and
also asked him if they should leave the village, as they heard the news of the
post-Panchayat violence. The refugees state there were 700 Jat families and 300
Muslim families in Qutba-Kutbi. That night, the pradhanpati Devender assured
the Muslims that he had made arrangements for them and none of them should
leave. The next morning, September 8th, at 8 AM, he along with his cousin
Upender, alias Babloo, who is a history-sheeter, led hundreds of Jats carrying
bhalas (spears) and ballams (lances) to attack Muslims. They entered the Muslim
houses, killed seven Muslims with sharp weapons, shot dead one woman. Three men
managed to run away. A group of 10-15 policemen led by a daroga were drinking
tea at the pradhan’s house in Qutba. When the three men ran to them for help,
the police told them that they would take action after having tea, and locked
up all three in the pradhan's sitting room.
Other Muslims ran out into the
sugarcane fields and hid there. They told us that they could see their houses
being burnt. They were rescued by “forces” that arrived from the direction of
Shahpur at 11:30 AM. When this force came, they were told about the three men
in the pradhan’s sitting room and they rescued them too. The Muslims who
escaped and also those the police rescued were taken to camps 1 and 2 at
Shahpur.
The refugees from Qutba-Kutbi at
Shahpur say that the mob consisted of Jats of their own village; one said there
were also outsiders. One person said all castes of Hindus were involved but
added that the others were doing what the Jats told them. In Kutbi there were
no deaths but armed Jats roamed with cans of kerosene and Muslims ran away from
the village. The Jats burnt Korans and houses and shouted that they would kill
all Muslims.
The refugees from these villages
whom we met at the two camps of Shahpur and at Bassi Kalan are artisans and
factory employees in other cities and are mostly landless. Their children were
in school till they were displaced. Some are now studying in Madarsas. They
were emphatic about not going back to the village as their own villagers had
turned against them. They stated that in their villages the Muslims were of
various castes. In Kutbi the Muslims are mostly Ansari, Teli, Dhobi, and a few
Sheikhs.
The Jats of Kutbi told a member of
our team that they had made repeated attempts to get the Muslims to return to
the village, something that Kutbi refugees deny, adding further that they do
not want to go back. Jats say that Devinder Singh (pradhanpati) visited the
camps, which Kutbi Muslims deny. In fact, their complaint is that when accused
like Devinder and Babloo have not been arrested how can they think of going
back? The affected Muslims told us that only two Jats among all those who were
accused are in jail--Kanwar Pal and Joginder. Kutbi Jats said that Muslims were
refusing to return largely because of the Rs.5 lakh compensation announced by
the state for those who lost a family member in the violence and do not wish to
return. The Kutbi Jats say that in the FIRs registered after September 8, even
Jats who were not in the village or are
“too old” to fight were also falsely named. For example, they brought
two local men who say they are in their eighties and have been named in the
FIRs for murder. These two said they had retired 10 years earlier, and “could
not possibly” have attacked anyone. They laughed off the incident of September
8th as well as the cases registered against them.
Some of the Muslims of Qutba-Kutbi
kept livestock, which they have now housed in relatives’ homes. Some others
went with the police to their homes, brought back the belongings left and sold
animals to relatives in unaffected villages. They also cited the name of
Sanjeev Baliyan (not the kabaddi teacher at Kakada village), considered to be
the BJP’s candidate in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, as among those who
participated in the violence. Among those who are displaced are Qutba resident
Maulvi Yaseen (he had a 21 roomed house in one bigha land, and 2 bigha
farmland—property worth around Rs 50 lakh), Mohd Hanif, who owned a two-storey
house and property worth Rs40 lakh; Imran s/o Shahbeer, who had ten houses made
in little less than 500 yards, Iddu s/o Rahmat, who owned a house and seven bigha farmland, Imran (s/o Shahbeer had two
bigha farm land and also Yakub, Nawab, Yamin and Kayyam each had a house and two
bigha farmland.
The exodus of Muslims from Kakada
village:
Another village where anti-Muslim
violence took place is Kakada, which this team visited on November 9th evening.
In Kakada, village elders got together on the evening of September 9th and
appealed for peace. Despite this, Muslims were severely stoned by the Kakada
Jats, forcing them all to flee the village. Some of them are still refugees at
Shahpur Camp No 1. One woman said that it was the pradhan of the village who
called in the police for assistance when the attacks began.
On the way to Kakada, the team met
a Jat school teacher teaching Kabbadi to 25 students. He was Sanjeev Baliyan,
head teacher at the primary school at Dinkapur and also teaching in Kakada. He
attributed the riots to attacks by Muslims on the processions leaving the
Panchayat on September 7th. He attributed the attack by Jats of Baliyan Khap in
Kakada on Muslims to the Pur Baliyan incident. He feels as a result of these
riots everyone is solidly behind BJP, “Yeh
hai Amit Shah ka jadoo.” (This is
the magic of Amit Shah, the BJP in-charge of UP). He feels Muslims want to
outbreed Hindus. He stated that when they were in majority, they first wanted
Pakistan, now “they want an independent Kashmir and have driven out all Hindus”
and that the same thing will happen here in a few years.
Sanjeev Baliyan also informed us
that the pradhan of Soram village had mobilized men and some Jat boys for the
Mahapanchayat that was held on September 7th. According to him the attacks on
the Jats at different places while they were returning from the Mahapanchayat
at Nangla Mandaur was the main trigger for the riots.
This chain of events, including the
attacks on Muslims at Qutba-Kutbi were unrelated to the incident at Kaval. The
events had more to do with the death of Jats from Kakada in the attack at Pur
Baliyan, rather than the much-propagated issue of “bahu beti izzat”. Sanjeev Baliyan also claimed that at Joli canal
bridge, “people in Muslim dress” had attacked Jats with automatic weapons which
resulted in six deaths. The police however denied that there had been any use
of automatic weapons.
Sanjeev Baliyan connected the
situation in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli “one hundred per cent” with Amit Shah’s
touring the area through the summer months preceeding the violence of
September. He rued Mulayam Singh’s meeting with Ashok Singhal in Lucknow in
late August and, in his view, it was the Congress that was benefitting from the
rioting.
Out of the four deaths reported
from Kakada, we could confirm the death of at least one old man who had
sustained head injury that night at Pur Baliyan. Sixty five year old Mahender
died on September 22nd at Meerut hospital. This was from his post-mortem report
that was obtained by us.
In Kakada village, the team found
Muslim houses deserted. Some elders took us around, with a crowd of young men
following. The latter alleged that the Muslims had left of their own, taken
away valuables and were now blaming the Jats for their losses. Their intention
is to claim more possessions than they had (“if they had two cows, they say
four to get more compensation”). The houses that the team saw are unplastered
brick houses, some with a second storey. Some of the houses bore signs of fire.
One team member, who had seen the area four days earlier, found the houses more
damaged now with broken boundary walls and evidence of fires etc. The Jat
villagers maintain that Muslims set fire to their own homes as they were lured
by the compensation that the government had announced for them. However, one
pucca Muslim house at the end of the village was found locked and intact and
the Jats argued that if they had indeed destroyed the Muslim houses then why
not this one too?
In Kakada village the young people
and some women were noticeably hostile, accusing the team of favouring Muslims
and being interested only in Muslim houses but they did not report any harm in
the villages to Jats or their houses.
Of the Muslims who escaped from
Kakada and are living in Shahpur Camp No 1, a woman said that the mosque in
Kakada had been burnt. She says Jats and others started stoning them, and said
that even before the violence took place, the village was rife with talk about
how “all Hindus have become one”. When she returned with police to pick up her
belongings they were found missing, stolen. The police filed an FIR for theft,
but did not agree to name some of the people she had identified.
One girl who was present at the
camp was a class VII student of the Government School at Kakada. Her father’s
furniture shop in the village was burnt. There were a couple of men who said
that when they went to the village with the police, none of the older
land-owning Jats tried to stop them, but they were frightened by the Jat
youngsters. They said if the pradhan, Ravinder Singh, had “assured us, we would
have gone back”. These displaced Muslims are landless and had worked for landed
Jats. Another women from Saifi (blacksmith) community of the village said that
the 30-35 families of the blacksmith community would not go back. Referring to
the continuing persecution these people told us that someone had set fire to
sugarcane fields of the Jats (probably near Bassi Kalan) and the police had
picked up three boys from the camp who were totally innocent.
Discussion with Ravinder Baliyan, Pradhan of Kakada
The team had a long talk with
Ravinder Baliyan, pradhan of Kakada at his residence. He said after the
violence of Qutba-Kutbi on September 8th, Muslims met him and he went to the
camps at Muzaffarnagar and at Shahpur. He claimed to have assured those at the
camps that: “If you want to live in the village we will ensure that you can
return and stay with all security.” Mr Baliyan agreed that Muslims fled because
of fear: “It is definite there is terror in the area.”
The pradhan stressed that there had
been no incident of violence against Muslims at Kakada. He told us that the
Muslim population in the village was around 1500 (“there were approximately
1000 Muslims votes in the village from 265 families”).
Ravinder pradhan felt that the
camps had created a perception that Muslims are better off when they stay among
Muslims; secondly the free rations etc they got at the camps also convinced
them to stay on. Though he agreed that Muslims could be afraid, he also accused
that since the government announced the Rs.5 Lakh compensation they had been overcome
by greed. This, he said, was the main reason they were not returning to their
homes. He complained that state's services and benefits (concessions) are all
for Muslims and that the camps will help the Congress and the SP consolidate
their vote bank. According to the pradhan, Jats are no longer just another
caste among others in UP: “If they are Muslim, we too are Hindu.”
In his long talk, he kept
reiterating his perception that Muslims are getting more than others from the
state. For example, he said that the benefits of Janani Suraksha Yojna should
not be extended beyond two children, which only encourages larger families,
especially among Muslims. The government’s move to offer financial aid of up to
Rs.1 lakh to the displaced families for the marriage of girls had encouraged
very young girls being married off in order to claim this money. In his opinion
the madarsas should be closed in favour of government schools. Both Hindus and
Muslims should have equal right on what the state hands out, and that extremism
is propagated by the government’s unequal treatment, he stated.
Surprisingly, in the middle of his
other opinions, he asserted that both Hindus and Muslims in this region are
part of Doab culture and that this culture is being spoilt by politics. But he
quickly reverted to his favored theme: “If there are attacks on Hindus, the
government takes no action. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh should not have
gone to Muslim relief camps alone but should have visited the bereaved families
at Kakada and other villages.” His other complaint against Muslims was that
they harass Jat girls. He too asserted that Muslims do not practice family
planning and are intent on out-numbering Hindus.
The Pradhan said: “In 1982 there
were 2.5 lakh Jats, while now there are only1.8 lakh, whereas Muslims are 4.5 lakh. The biggest issue facing
Jats is that they are dependent on land, which they shouldn’t be and they
should leave the area.” (He implies that Jats should move into other
professions). On being reminded of the historic Muslim-Jat social and political
alliance built by Chaudhary Charan Singh, he said that the Muslim-Jat
combination existed since 1971, but broke because of the other factors. On
being asked about the possible role of BJP in fanning the latest communal flare
up, he said, “Why blame BJP, what wrong have they done? Did they tell the
Muslims to harass Jat girls?”
Other villages represented in the
Camps
Some experiences could be recorded
from the other villages represented in
the camps.. In village Dulhera, there were attacks on September 8th and all the
Muslims were chased out by young Jat men. Among the Muslim homes, 70 were of
“lower caste” landless Muslims while five houses were of land owning Muley
Jats, all of whom had gone back as their houses were untouched. This probably
is also a reflection of their higher social position in the village as compared
to the insecurity of the lower caste Muslims.
The few refugee families from
Hadauli village complained that their village’s name did not figure in the
Relief and Rehabilitation (RR) list. This was also true of some individual
families from the villages that did appear in the RR list. These families
claimed that there was an atmosphere of terror due to persistent threat of
armed attacks. They mentioned that a 70 year old woman was attacked by a spear.
Zumma s/o Deenu Jeli was chased by a mob, and he ran into his house which was
set on fire. Only his bones were recovered. Out of 30 to 35 families displaced
two families were at Bassi Kalan camp while others were at Shahpur and Loyi
camps. These people told us that in Muslim majority villages there have been no
riots, no killings and no temples were damaged. They informed us that among the
trouble makers, one Rajiv Pratap Saini of Patta village and a supporter of BJP
leader Hukum Singh Yadav was one of those distributing weapons in their
village.
Talk with AIKMS leader, Shamshad,
in Muzaffarnagar:
The team met Mr. Shamshad, leader
of the All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) who had been among the riot
victims for the past few days, on November 9th. He was the person who had first
located the affidavits that Muslims were being asked to sign for obtaining
compensation and in which it was specified that they must give up all claim to
immovable property and never go back to the village. He stated that there were
11 camps, all of Muslims, and 60,000 people, mostly poor Muslims, had been
displaced of whom 20,000 were in camps and others with relatives. As on the
date of our visit, the government had claimed that 50,955 persons were
displaced, of whom 41,000 had already gone back from the camps and that only
10,000 were left.
By the time of our visit all
government provisioning of the camps had stopped and the camps were being run
with the help of religious/community organizations. According to Shamshad the
official death figure was stated to be 53, of whom 40 were Muslims and 13 Jats.
He also informed us that of the five lakh being given to Muslims as
compensation (with the corollary that they will never go back to their
villages), the Muslim organizations were taking Rs.20,000 deposit to build
houses, and that 11 bighas of land had been acquired in Bassi Kalan for this
purpose. It is pertinent to point out here that Maulana Nazar, and activist of
Jama’at whom we contacted on the phone offered to take us to sites in
Muzaffarnagar city where houses are proposed to be constructed under Jamiat
supervision.
Further insights into the
Muzaffarnagar incidents
As has already been mentioned, the
team received help from Sh Devdutt Tyagi, the former pradhan of Khubbapur
village in establishing contact with people in Kakada village. En route to
Kakada from Shahpur he provided some more valuable insights into the communal
disturbances that had jolted the area. His assessment of the situation is that
whatever has happened till now “is a mere trailer” of bigger violence that is
likely in the Muzaffarnagar-Shamli belt within the next few months. “This
violence to come can only be stopped by Modi and not even by BJP” he said.
According to him the Jat-Muslim unity carved by Chaudhary Charan Singh died in
the Mandal agitation of 1990 itself when the Jats were not included in list of
OBCs. Now Jats feel neglected politically. Their social position has been
further undermined due to their inability to capitalize on education as a tool
of upward mobility. They are stuck in the same jobs like police and army. Now
the SP government has introduced OBC reservation in the police, squeezing job
opportunities for Jats further. “So you have all those young men, hanging
around doing nothing, quick to take to crime, drinking and looting. We are
scared to go out here on the roads after dark.”
He believes that the environment
was being spoilt much before the events in September, as early as June-July
this year, and that the Jats have been arming themselves. “Fiza kharab ki ja rahi thi”. He mentioned three incidents in Qutba
and Kutbi wherein Jat girls had eloped with Muslim boys, two in July and
another in August. These incidents had angered the Jats.
Sh Devdutt mentioned one incident
in detail. On August 8 in Sohram, one Muslim girl was “teased” by Jat boys. The
girl’s brother and others from the Muley Jat community got together and beat up
the boys responsible for the “eve teasing”. The offenders included a relative
of the Sohram pradhan. Later, the Jats called the PAC, who lathi-charged the
Muslims. It appears that since this incident tensions between Sohram Jats and the Mulay
Jats of the village were simmering. The Jat pradhan of the village also played
an active role in the mobilization for the Nangla Mandaur Mahapanchayat that
took place on 8th of September. Ostensibly the Muley Jats of Sohram
planned their revenge on the Sohram Pradhan at Pur Baliyan in collaboration
with the local Muley Jats on the evening of 8th September.
There was another incident at Joli,
where the PAC had to be called. In July and August there were incidents at
Muzaffarnagar railway station in which Muslims had been dragged from trains and
humiliated. He further stated that both Muslims and Jats were arming themselves
in anticipation of a bigger showdown in the next six to seven months. He linked
this with the 2014 elections, saying that if Modi leads BJP to victory there
are chances that peace would prevail, otherwise there would be a bloodbath.
Hussainpur – Mohammadpur Raisingh
– site of killings on October 30:
The team visited these twin
villages separated by a distance of three kilometers, on the morning of
November 10. A meeting of 35 biradaris (communities representing different Jat
Khaps and other castes) was to take place that day at Mohammadpur Raisingh.
This meeting had once again been called by the Gathwala Khap led by Baba
Harkishan.
After driving from Muzaffarnagar to
the nearest town of Budhana, where the army had been called on September 8) we
drove on rugged, narrow roads through lush sugarcane fields to Mohammadpur
Raisingh.
Mohammadpur Raisingh:
At the entrance of the village we
witnessed many wall writings equating cow protection with national protection.
On entering the village we met a group of young men and asked them about the
venue of the meeting and if they would be attending it. They showed us the way
to the Jat section of the village and replied in the negative about
participation in the meeting as the meeting was that of the “kisans” (i.e.
Jats). These youth were landless agricultural labour and belonged to Kashyap
(Kumhar caste). People from the other Hindu castes also showed absolute
indifference to the meeting and did not want to talk about the incident of the
killing of the boys from neighboring Hussainpur.
The venue of the meeting was a big
temple compound. By noon, we could see some policemen coming to the village,
but people had not reached the meeting place as yet. We then went to the
compound of the pradhan’s house where Jat pradhans of different villages were
gathering. There was consensus among the people present here regarding the
events of October 30 (when three Muslim boys of the neighboring Hussainpur
village had been killed in Mohammadpur Raisingh). Their version was completely
divergent to the version we later got from Hussainpur residents.
The story at Mohammadpur Raisingh
was that an ex-army Jat, Rajendra Singh from Mohammadpur, was working in his
fields in the evening as part of a pact between the two villages to work on
their fields at different points of the day. He was brutally attacked by
Muslims from Hussainpur, according to the Jats of Mohammadpur Raisingh. Although
badly wounded, Rajendra Singh somehow escaped and returned to the village.
After this, around 12 Jats from the village accompanied him and chased the boys
who were alleged to have attacked him. A fight ensued and in the course of this
fight, the PAC allegedly shot the three Muslim boys. The Jats also talked about
Shahpur and how Muslims in those camps are indulging in loot and rampage.
The various pradhans and sarpanchs
of Jats from villages across Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts included the
fathers of Sachin and Gaurav (the two Jat boys killed at Kaval) gathered at the
Mohammadpur Raisingh pradhan’s compound. They explained why the Khap has been
called that day. “The PAC has orders to let anyone who dies, die. Whether the
government says it or not, it cares only for about 25 crore (Muslims). The day
before yesterday, Hindus were attacked at Shahpur. The message is clear: we
must protect ourselves.”
The wife of the pradhan of
Mohammadpur corroborated the killing of the boys from Hussainpur and expressed
surprise over the audacity of the attackers who, after injuring the army man
Rajinder Singh, did not run away but remained there. Another pradhan told us
that some goons came and beat up the army man and there was firing from both
sides in which the Muslims got killed. During the panchayat proceedings,
indignation was expressed that the SP (superintendent of police) entered the
village and took Rajender Singh away under pretext of medical examination but
arrested him under Sec 302. They saw this as evidence of the “conspiracy”
against the Jats. They said that Rajender Singh was 70 years old. One of the
speakers stated that he had called ‘Babaji’ (Baba Harkishan) and 2000-3000
people had collected in Mohammadpur Raisingh in response, on the night of October
30th. “We kept our case but instead of justice we only got arrested.” They
asked whether police found even one weapon in this village, but at the same
time expressed a grouse that the SHO “took away our China pistols”. Very few
young Jat men could be seen in this village. We later learned that they had
been sent off to relatives’ homes in neighbouring districts, in anticipation of
arrests related to the killing of Muslim boys from Hussainpur village.
The team met the fathers of the two
Jat boys killed in Kaval. The pradhan who introduced these men said, “Both of
them have lost their only sons, whereas the Muslim youth they fought with was
one of the nine children in his family; so it doesn't matter to them.”
It is not true that Sachin and
Gaurav were both only sons.
The 35 biradari panchayat:
A crowd of over 350 comprising
mainly the Khap leaders, Jat village pradhans, leaders of some other castes
such as the Brahmins, Thakurs and Gujjars and some of their supporters had
assembled for the panchayat at Mohammadpur Raisingh. They came from different
villages of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and other districts of western UP, as also
from Haryana. There were around 15 policemen with three vehicles and two to
three officers who kept a watch from outside while one plainclothes man sat
inside the hall. The Khap meeting took place in the hall of a Shiva temple in
the village. The Khap members, with their splendid turbans, were predominantly
middle aged and old men. A few young Jats were helping with the arrangements. While
the prominent leaders sat on the makeshift dias in the front, the rest of the
crowd sat on the floor.
The Khap meeting was presided over
by Baba Harkishan Singh, the chief of Gathwala Khap (reportedly 27 cases are
pending against him including one of gang rape). The others present included
Naresh Tikait of the Baliyan khap and a leader of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU),
Durga Mal (from Bainswal, one of the villages badly affected by the violence),
Udaivir Singh (village Pelkha, Lathiyan Khap), Thakur (Kushwaha Khap), Mange
Ram, Khambe Lal (Baliyan Khap), Udham Singh (Balola) and several others whose
names could not be noted down.
The general emphasis of the
speeches delivered veered around the same themes that had emerged from
individual interviews of many Jats
mentioned above: That Muslims are not returning to villages due to the greed of
compensation; that Jats are being subjected to injustice; about how patriotic
Jats are and that they can’t compromise with self-respect especially if the
issue of bahu, beti and izzat is
involved. The introductory speech by the representative of Mohammadpur Raisingh
began by saying, “The government is trying to divide the Jats and Thakurs by
mentioning them as separate communities. They are trying to isolate us. It is a
conspiracy of the government.” They said that a clear message has to be given
to Muslims and the government through a show of strength. They alleged that the
government is indulging in “ektarfa
karyawahi” (one sided action) by providing compensation to the Muslims and
arresting only the Jats in false cases. The panchayat resolved to wage a
decisive war against this. They wanted all cases filed to be withdrawn and
called for a day’s hartal on November 15, to coincide with Moharram. It was
very clear they wanted to up the ante.
One of the speakers said (and this
we had often heard from pro Jat opinions) that after the Kaval incident, the Muslims responsible for the
killings were caught at the insistence of the then DM and SP. However, they
were released the very next day at the behest of the Samajwadi Party Minister
Azam Khan. Both the DM and SP were instantly transferred. They argued that if
this had not happened there would not have been so much mayhem. Commenting on
the general talk of BJP being behind the riots, one of the speakers asked if
“BJP had told Muslim boys to tease Jat girls or kill the brothers who defended
her?” Many others defended the BJP.
It must however be mentioned that
at least some of the elderly speakers at the meeting asked for restraint and
action that would restore peace and normalcy in the area.
In the informal conversation at the
village pradhan’s house, one of the pradhans—Pheru pradhan—told us that the
village Mohammadpur Raisingh is surrounded by Muslims who had destroyed
tubewells causing financial losses to the tune of lakhs. At the panchayat, the
Muslims of Hussainpur village were accused of taking over forest department
land and creating residential plots there. They said they have no weapons now
that the police had taken away their licensed arms, and no means of “defending
ourselves”. They said that this has emboldened the Muslims who were resorting
to provocative activities like burning their sugarcane fields. (On November 29th,
the Gathwala Khap head Baba Harkishan’s sugarcane fields were reported as
having been burned, at a time when the sugarcane agitation by Jat farmers was
at a high pitch.)
The team spoke to the armed police
officers standing outside the hall. On being asked as to how the meeting called
by the Khaps is being allowed as section 144 is in force in the area, the police officer said that this
is a social problem as well and cannot be just tackled by law and order
machinery. Moreover, the place of gathering was a private one. They said as
both sides were blaming the police, the police must have done something right.
The officer lamented that the police forces were not enough to tackle the
situation. He also admitted the fact that there was a severe
under-representation of Muslims, who formed only about four per cent of the police force.
He admitted that police had seized all the licensed weapons in the area, but
said this was the standard procedure in riot situations. The fact of the matter
is that there were more Jats who had licensed weapons and thus they are saying
they have been selectively disarmed.
Conversation at Hussainpur
village:
From Mohammadpur Raisingh the team
moved to the adjoining Hussainpur village. Hussainpur has a mixed population
comprising of about 3000 Muslims and 2000, Hindus of whom 700 are dalits. There
are no Jats in this village. The composition consists largely of castes like
the Muley Jats, Sheikhs, Sayyads, Faqirs, Telis, Brahmins and Banias. We were
told that all households in this village had some land, including the Muslims.
Not only has there been no violence in this village, but after the Kaval incident
the villagers kept a vigil at nights by forming composite teams including all
communities. No damage was reported to the temple or to any of the Hindu houses
in the village.
At the time of the visit there were
some 2400 Muslim refugees from Mohammadpur Raisingh who were living in the
relief camp at Hussainpur village. There had been refugees from other villages
such as Khedi Gani whom their Jat co-villagers had brought here for safety at
the peak of communal violence, but they had since returned to their villages
under the protection of their Jat co-villagers. The President of the Aman
Committeeof the village, Maulana Imran, informed us that the Mohammadpur people
were insisting that refugees from their village be ousted from Hussainpur. In
view of the prevailing communal tension, a truce was reached between villagers
of the two villages about work timing on the fields that lie between the two
villages. The people of Mohammadpur would work in the forenoon and those of
Hussainpur in the afternoon to avoid any possible conflict in the prevailing
tense atmosphere.
The Muslim families of Hussainpur
denied that there was any ”incident” involving Rajender Singh the retired army
man from Mohammadpur. The team met 27 years old Kaish Khan s/o Abrar Khan and
26 years old Shah Alam s/o Munawwar Khan, survivors of the murderous attack by
Jats on October 30th. These survivors
informed us that they went to Kaish Khan’s chacha’s (father’s brother’s) field
to cut some fresh fodder at 4:30 pm on October 30th. With them were three other
youth--Amroz Khan s/o Khasreen Khan (22 years), Meherban s/o Abad Khan (28 yrs)
and Ajmal Khan s/o Anees Khan (22 yrs).
Of the five, Meherban and Ajmal
were long-distance truck drivers who had returned to their village for a
holiday. Shah Alam and Kaish Khan were cutting grass while the other three were
hanging around chatting, chewing sugarcane.
Suddenly these men heard some
noises coming from a distance and then saw a crowd of around 25-30 people who
came from the side of Mohammadpur Raisingh. These men were shouting provocative
anti-Muslim slogans and soon overpowered the five men from Hussainpur. The men
coming from the side of Mohammadpur Raisingh were carrying swords, knives,
spears, sickles, farsa (axe), rifles and sticks. They caught hold of the five
men from Hussainpur and started beating them up brutally. Of these men from
Mohammadpur, Kaish Khan and Shah Alam said they could recognize 16. They
escaped alive by managing to free themselves from the captors and then hid in
the sugarcane fields. The other three youth–Amroz Khan, Meharban and Ajmal Khan
were dragged away by the mob. Kaish Khan and Shah Alam informed us that there
was no PAC present while this incident took place. Tha Jats of Mohammmedpur had
told us that the three young men had been killed by PAC firing.
These two men who had managed to
flee rang up their uncle Shahnawaz (the pradhan of Hussainpur village) while
hiding in the sugarcane field. The pradhan kept calling the SHO of Bhaura Kalan
police station for help. His calls, however, went unattended. Later, on the
basis of the call records, the SHO of Bhaura Kalan PS was suspended for dereliction
of duty. Meanwhile, the villagers of Hussainpur went to the field at night and
rescued the two young men, shaken and scared..
According to the people at
Hussainpur, they received the bodies of the three youth late next night. We were
told that the bodies were badly mutilated and bore signs of severe beating.
They had also been shot. This was also confirmed by the postmortem reports of
the three men that were procured by the team. As per the post-mortem reports
the bodies have one gunshot wound each, though it is not known if the bullets
have been sent for further ballistic tests, to ascertain the nature of the
weapon.
The post mortem of the three boys
was conducted on 31.10.13 at 3:50 AM, 4:30 AM and 5:15 AM i.e. in the early
hours of October 31st. In all three reports, it is recorded that rigor mortis
had developed in the upper part of the body and was developing in lower part.
All three post mortems have recorded the cause of death as shock and blood loss
due to ante-mortem injuries. While firearm injuries are recorded in
post-mortems in the case of Ajmal, the postmortem records “One metallic bullet
recovered from abdominal cavity and sealed and handed over to constable.” The
constables were Kapil Kumar and Satendra Kumar (996 and 366) of Kotwali thana.
Of the sixteen people identified (all Jats), nine have been arrested while
seven are still free. Those not arrested yet include Harbir, Harender,
Sansarpal and Mange Ram.
Hussainpur Muslims said this was
not a Hindu-Muslim fight but was due to the “goondas” next door in Mohammadpur
Raisingh. Some called it a “Jat-Muslim” quarrel. The two Hindus sitting around
with us at Hussainpur agreed. One among them was on the Aman Committee of the
village.
The villagers at Hussainpur said
that Muslims from some of the nearby villages who had taken shelter in their
village at the time of heightened tension in the district had returned to their
villages. The Jats of these villages had themselves taken the responsibility of
the security of these Muslims. However, the Muslims from Mohammadpur Raisingh
did not want to go back because they feel that once they go back they shall be
pressurized to withdraw cases against those Jats who stand accused of the
violence against them, or the cases could be closed. Apparently, there are 16
cases against identified persons and 10 against unnamed persons.
Residents of Hussainpur proudly
said that there had never been any communal tension there, not in 1947 or in
1992 in the aftermath of demolition of Babri Masjid. They said that all
villages, except those dominated by Jats, have Aman committees. They were
equally emphatic that if any of their religious leaders took any position on
their behalf, without consulting them, they would reject it.
Kaish Khan said, and the others
agreed, that there are good Jats as well but somehow all troubles have been in
Jat dominated villages alone. Jat aggression, especially against Muslims, is a
fact of everyday life in the area.
Most of the Hussainpur people say
the Mohammadpur Raisingh Jats resent the relative socio-economic success of
Muslims here. Many of the local Muslims are working outside the district in
Delhi, Jaipur, Modinagar and other parts of the country. They send money back
home. Many Muslim families have added one more room, one more floor to their
houses. The pradhan of Hussainpur has bought eight bighas of agricultural land
from a Jat, as have a couple of other Muslims present there. This is deeply
resented by the Jats.
The residents complained
insightfully that failure of the sugar mills to open at a time when sugarcane
crushing should have already been underway was also aggravating the prevailing
communal tension, besides causing financial insecurity. They feel that things
will become normal if the administration strictly adheres to its duties. If the
rates of sugarcane could be fixed and the mills could be started, people would
go about their business and not have time for mischief. They also felt that the
incidents of violence could be diversionary tactics to prevent farmers from
launching a united struggle for better sugarcane prices.
On being asked about the incidents
of sugarcane fields being set on fire and the claim of Mohammadpur Jats that
Muslims were behind such acts, the Hussainpur villagers informed us of an
incident wherein there had been a fire in the sugarcane fields of some Jats
recently. They said: “We were informed by a driver, we called the police and
helped to put out the fire.” They also said that around the 19th or
the 20th of October, they had discussions with the Jats of
Mohammadpur to fix timings for work in their respective fields. As per the
agreement, since the fields of Mohamadpur Raisingh were nearer Hussainpur, the
farmers from Mohammadpur would work their fields during the morning hours,
while those from Hussainpur would work their fields in the evenings. However,
thereafter, there were no further discussions between the two villages and a
climate of great fear prevailed.
Voices from the relief camps:
Shamshad (the AIKMS activist) had told
us that at present there are 11 camps, all of Muslims. The earlier team of
National Minorities Commission which had gone on September 19th had noted 41
camps with 50,180 persons, of which 16,000 were from Shamli and the rest from
Muzaffarnagar district, as revealed to them by the administration. They were
told that the effort of the administration was to ensure the safety of the camp
residents and ensure their return. The camps were predominantly of Muslims,
mainly the landless–weavers, self-employed artisans, Lohars, etc. That report
recorded that by the time of their visit, 45 deaths had been registered–29 in
Muzaffarnagar (9 Hindu, 20 Muslims), 12 in Shamli, three in Meerut, one in
Hapur and one in Saharanpur. The camp this Commission visited however was in
Kamalpur temple. They were SC families (58) from Bassi Kalan who had fled from
there, not because they were subject to violence but because they feared
retaliation from refugees from other villages who were sheltered in their
Muslim majority village. This camp was well provided for. There was a hand
pump, toilet, team of doctors and PHC workers. While the Commission’s team was
there, the pradhan of Bassi Kalan arrived at the camp to urge the Dalits to
return home.
Our team went to two camps, one at
Shahpur–Shahpur Camp No. 1, and the other at Bassi Kalan on the 9th
of November. The Bassi Kalan camp was located in the local madarsa. There were
around 150 families living there in tents since September 8th. There were no
policemen to be seen in the vicinity of the camp in order to ensure the
security of the camp. The people who sought shelter here reported they were
first given rations in bulk by the government. This was provided through the
Madarsa Committee. These lasted 15-20 days and were inadequate. After this,
supplies were given to the camp on a per family basis: every tent got 25 kilos
of pulses and wheat, some cooking oil, salt and sugar. The supplies reached
them in two installments. At the time of our visit, however, there had been no
further supplies from the government. These families were cooking their meals
separately and were relying largely on what the madrasa provided to them. The
Jamaat was providing the charity.
All the persons we talked to said
that they did not want to go back to their villages because of vicious attacks
by the Jats of their own village whom they know and recognize. Neither had
anyone from the Jat community come to ask them to come back.
They also recounted the enormous
problems they faced in claiming compensation: Understanding the language of the
documents, the forms required to be filled, arranging identification papers for
opening bank accounts when they had fled from their homes with no belongings
and missing names from the list of claimants are among the obstacles they face.
The lack of documents meant that they have not been able to open bank accounts
or arrange for alternate schools for their children.
For claiming the compensation they
were required to submit an affidavit that they will never return to the village,
and will never claim compensation for their immovable properties. [I1] [I2]
Many of the refugees, while willing
to sign the affidavit, were apprehensive of the conditions mentioned. When our
team questioned the pradhan of Bassi Kalan (who is over all in-charge of
managing the affairs of this camp) about the conditions in the affidavit in
light of the apprehensions expressed, he rubbished these apprehensions. We were
told that around 25-30 people had gone to District Office, Muzaffarnagar, to
discuss this issue.
The physical conditions at the
camp
The entrance to the relief camp at Bassi Kalan is guarded by the large
grilled gate of the madrasa. Inside, there were pools of dirty water and some
chullahs between the tents showing sign of recent cooking. The tents were close
to each other and about 6’ x 5’. We were told 200 families lived in this camp.
The camps were bereft of any civic amenities worth their name. The few mobile
toilets that were provided by the administration were without running water or
facilities for disposal of the accumulated human waste and hence were not being
used by the people any more. People were making do with community taps (if one
was available) or taps in nearby houses to get water for daily use. There were
no facilities for medical check-ups / first aid at the camps, either arranged
by the administration or privately by the Jamaat.
As against the camp at Bassi Kalan,
the camps at Shahpur comprised of tents put up on the empty residential plots
of land. These new tents had been donated by the Jamaat. While at Bassi Kalan
the team met mainly men, at Shahpur the respondents were mainly women. Many of
the tents seemed strangely empty. (The residents claimed the menfolk had
stepped out to find work, pursue the required paperwork. Some residents of the
tents had been sheltered in homes in the village as well.)
Maulana Nazar, an activist of the
Jamaat, whom we contacted on the phone, offered to take us to sites in
Muzaffarnagar city to show us where houses are proposed to be constructed for
the riot displaced families. These alternative arrangements are being
supervised by the Jamaat.
In terms of displacement from their
homes in the nearby villages this amounted to loss of security of a roof over
their head, leading to increased exposure to anti-social elements especially of
the young girls and other females. It has been reported in other enquires that
there have been instances of rape of young girls in the camps. This has led to
increased worries for the parents regarding the safety of their children,
especially the adolescent girls. A number of marriages of underage girls have
been reported from these camps. This could well be a measure by families to get
rid of the responsibility of the safety of young girls.
As per the statement of
the residents in the camps they are being increasingly pressurized now to
vacate the camps at the earliest, especially if they have accepted government
compensation along with its attached conditions.
There seemed to be some
contradiction in the views expressed by the camp residents regarding the role
of the government. A member of the committee managing the camp, Jameel (from
village Qutba) said the government had indeed provided help. However, this was
contradicted by another young man from the same village, Momin, who severely
criticized the apathy of the government towards their condition. No one has
returned to work. Many returned to their homes with police to recover what they
could of their belongings and animals.
Killing of Irfan kabadi on November 6, 2013:
When the team visited the Shahpur
area in the district, a bandh was being observed in the town. There was
perceptible tension with a posse of policemen present in the main market along
the main road of the town. The tension had built up following the killing of
one Irfan from the area. This is the latest in the series of killings in the
area since the initial violence at Kaval village. When we visited Shahpur we
could see policemen at the crossing and at market places, which were all
closed. On talking to people, including a policeman, we learnt that the
supporters of Dr. Harveer Singh, a registered medical practitioner of the area
and a known RSS activist, had threatened a bandh till the arrest of 15 Muslims
from the refugee camps whom he alleged had burnt his shop in the Shahpur market
on November 6th. From Shamshad we had learnt that when he went to Shahpur town
on November 7th at 11:30 AM, the main street was eerily silent, the entire
bazaar was closed and people were standing around talking in groups. Police
Special Forces and media were also present.
By putting together the available
pieces of information we could construct the following sequence of events. Some
boys from the camps had gone to the market in Shahpur where they identified and
pointed out one of the Jats accused of violence against Muslims to others
present on the spot. A majority
of those present were Muslims, as Shahpur is a Muslim majority town. The
accused was identified as Yogender who was guilty of violence at Qutba-Kutbi
from where many of the refugees at Shahpur had come. The Muslims surrounded
Yogender, beat him up and handed him over to the police. In the entire episode Irfan,
a scrap merchant, had played an important role. Irfan used to go to different
villages to buy scrap and local Muslims told us that earlier in the day Irfan
had happened to tell Dr Harveer Singh of his movements during the day. Irfan
was later shot dead between Shahpur and nearby Chandpur. Suspecting that
probably Harveer had tipped Irfan’s killers of his movement, the local Muslims
came to him to protest whereupon they say that Harveer Singh set fire to his
own shop and implicated 15 Muslim men from the camp who had earlier been
involved in Yogender’s arrest.
The administration’s take on the
events in Muzaffarnagar
Our
visit to the District Magistrate’s (DM) office on November 27th coincided with
a dharna by BKU to demand fixation of appropriate sugarcane prices that was
attended by the farmers from across castes and the communities on the basis of
the common interest. The gathering was quite militant but non-violent. The DM
could not be contacted as he was away from the office. We were able to talk to
the ADM (Administration), Indramani Tripathi. According to him, all camps,
except the one at Loyi, have been wound up and people have been given Rs.5
lakhs as compensation, deposited in their bank accounts.
On
being reminded that the affidavit said that after receiving the compensation
the people would forfeit all claims to damages to their immovable property and
can never go back to their villages and cannot even build a house in the area,
he said that those provisions have been removed and they can go to their
villages if they so wished. But he did not show any government order to that
effect. “The affidavit only says that those signing up for Rs.5 lakh relief
should not ask for any more compensation from the government. They can take
other steps,” Tripathi told us. This is at variance with the language of the
affidavit.
He
confirmed the official figures of deaths as 15 Hindus, mostly Jats, and 59
Muslims. According to him only 170 families are left to be rehabilitated. They
all are at Loyi and they add up to 1078 people. He tried to convince us that
out of fear they do not want to go to their homes and are settling down in the
neighborhood of Muslim majority areas. On being questioned about danger of
further ghettoization of society, he said that some of them are settling in
non-Muslim areas also. The government, he said, spent Rs.3 to 3.5 crore on
supplying provisions to the camps. A total of 806 families had taken
compensation which is 4000 to 4500 people and the money spent on this purpose
was Rs.40.3 crores. He echoed the government policy for the distribution of
relief through Intezamia committees controlled by religious organizations and
Madrasas. The Shivpal Yadav Committee, set up in the immediate aftermath of the
riots, recommended to the state that relief be distributed through the
“community” organizations of Muslims. This system, however, has extracted a
toll on the Muslim refugees, who are increasingly under pressure from the
Madarsa Committees not to return to their original villages and continue to
stay in the Muslim-dominated villages.
Mr
Tripathi also echoed the general Jat narrative that in the greed for
compensation Muslims do not want to go back to their villages, He could not,
however, explain why this was so if such provisions of the affidavit were no
longer relevant.
The
ADM said that Muslims will definitely use the compensation to buy land locally,
in case they do not want to return to the villages they ran away from. He said
this is “natural”. They will obviously want to live near their own community.
“This is but natural—it happens everywhere, even in Delhi”. He said that
composite culture is not affected by this change.
Near
the DM office we met two local journalists Madan Baliyan and Dilshad Malik (a
Muley Jat). According to them, on September 8th, when the rampage began, the
army was called and was in the town for more than six hours before being
deployed. The Superintendent of Police at the time, Subhash Chandra Dube, was
suspended. The DM, Surinder Singh and the SSP Manzil Saini had already been
transferred after the Kaval incident. Madan Baliyan and Dilshad Malik also told
us that it had been converted into a Hindu-Muslim confrontation by vested
political interests of the BJP and the SP. They told us that the maximum number
of rapes of Muslim women took place at Lisarh village and that out of over two
dozen rapes, only six cases had been reported. In November, the state did amend
the notification it had issued in October, under which this Rs.5 lakh
compensation was to be provided to riot-affected Muslim families. Now the
relief is available to all affected people, regardless of their religion,
thanks to a Supreme Court order based on a petition filed by a Delhi lawyer.
While the ADM says it will be given to people who lost their homes (to arson
etc) in the six villages, the SSP HN Singh said it will be given to families
that have escaped from villages where there was actual violence. It seemed
obvious on November 27th that the district administration was speaking in one
voice when it came to insisting that the relief camps have closed down. Both
the ADM and SSP insisted that nearly all Muslims, except in Loyi camp, have
found alternative accomodation, chiefly because they have claimed the Rs.5 lakh
compensation. This claim has subsequently been contradicted, and on December 20th
the officials admitted that there are over 16,000 Muslims still in camps.
Similarly, the local functionaries seemed not to know the exact death toll in
the riots either. Ultimately, the SSP provided these numbers, late in the
evening.
Meeting with the Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP)
In
the office of SSP the first thing we noticed was the list of SSPs displayed in
the office. Mr. Hari Narain Singh is the 5th SSP to be appointed in
2013 . On being asked about the complaint of the Jats regarding one-sided
action by government and the release of real culprits in Kaval case, the SSP
refuted the charge and said the police cannot take action on the basis of just
the FIR without investigation. He said investigation of cases was being
conducted by a team of two SPs, four DSPs, 50 Inspectors/Sub Inspectors
involving the police personnel from all the concerned policestations–Jansath;
Sikheda; Mirapur; Kotwali; Nai Mandi; Budhana; Bhaura Kalan and Bhopa–under
which the riots occurred.
On
the issue of alleged “encounter” of three youth of Hussainpur at Mohammadpur
Raisingh as claimed by the speakers at the Mohammadpur panchayat, the SSP
denied that the youth had been killed in police encounter, though he did
confirm that they had been shot at and also attacked by sharp weapons. He
informed us that nine out of the 16 persons named for the murders had been
arrested and that a search was on for the others.
The
SSP also said that the rehabilitation of all the displaced persons except those
of five to six villages is complete. According to him, despite being assured of
security by the administration, most of villagers do not feel reassured and are
not ready to go back. As most of them are from the labouring classes with no
land, perhaps they feel they can settle elsewhere, he argued.
The
SSP acknowledged the presence of a large number of illegal weapons in the
district and that the police is
continually checking and carrying out raids to find these weapons. The police
is launching outreach programs for establishing peace by consulting elders.
They now have plans to start programs to interact with the youth. On the
question of night training camps by RSS which we had heard about, he joked that
they are already well trained. According to the SSP, the number of killed
included 37 Muslims and 15 Hindus. The SSP refused to give the break-up of Jats
and non-Jats.
The
SSP told us that relief was provided to people from villages who fled after
serious incidents—“murders”. He also informed that they are working with NGOs
and are making efforts to rehabilitate those in the camps to go back to the
villages. NGOs are organizing contact meetings and assuring the people of full
police assistance and security if they decide to return to their villages.
The
SSP claimed that “When both sides accuse us of being partial, surely that means
we are doing something right.” He says the police bandobast was quite effective
over the last three months, after the riots broke out, Two ASPs, four DSPs and
four legal officers, along with 50 inspectors/sub inspectors have been brought
into the region. He assured us of “dispassionate investigation”, which can only
be done according to the FIRs that have been registered.
540
legal cases in all have been filed. Around 6000 people have been named in them.
The police stations include, Jansath, Kotwali, Sisauli, Nayi Mandi, Shahpur,
Bhudana, Bhopa, Bhaura Kala, Phugana, Meerapur and Mansoorpur. “When eight
people have been killed in Qutba-Kutbi, how can we possibly remove the names
(of the Jats) who have been accused and named by the eye-witnesses?” he asked.
He
opined that the people of the region, both Jats and Muslims, have tremendous
propensity to fight. “They also know very well how to present the case in their
favour.” The SHO of Bhaura Kala was suspended after this incident at
Mohammadpur Raisingh -Hussainpur. This, the SSP says, was because the SHO was
accused by people of Hussainpur that he did not take action in time. He says
that there was police (UP Police) present at Mohammadpur Rai Singh at the time
of the incident, but they were at the far end of the village and not where the
three young men were attacked. He says the suspension of the SHO at Bhauran
Kalan has nothing to do with the killing itself. The fact that he did not
answer the calls of the Hussainpur boys was (presumably) because of a flood of
phone calls to him. There is a lot of “pressure” at such times. “The police
went there on hearing of the incident. They received dozens of phone calls. The
probe is on.” The investigation is not yet complete into this incident, and
nobody can be declared guilty or not guilty yet. “Not just in this case, in any
case, if somebody is coming to the police with any evidence/proof, we are
registering a case on his behalf. What the guilt or innocence is, the court
will have to establish. If someone is innocent, he can bring the proof, and he
will be set free by the court.”
We
asked why the Mohammadpur Raisigh Khap panchayat was allowed to meet despite
section 144 being declared in the area. He replied - “Khaps keep meeting here.
It is a common practice. It was a meeting in the temple. It is an internal
matter.”
Regarding
the Kaval incident and the accusation of the Jats that the police let the real
culprits free after initially arresting them, the SSP said: “Of the people who
were arrested at first, only one was found to be involved, so he was the only
one kept. If not found involved, then why would he be kept, and how can we
catch the others (those not involved).”
The
SSP informed that “wherever there was fear among the people because there have
been incidents, we have stationed the PAC and the RAF (Rapid Action Force) (as
a measure against further violence). People who are mortally afraid are being
given protection.”
“Where
there have been actual incidents, like in Shahpur, Phugana, Kakada—where the
people are in no position to return, that is where the people are liable to
avail of compensation. Where there have been murders.” He also says that the
people will get either the Rs. five lakh compensation—“Agar le liya, toh wapas mat jaiye.” Or, the Muslims will be able to
claim actual damages, but not from the government.
He
denies that there has been a security failure. “People are (just) afraid to
return. They are being ’persuaded’ to return. They are being told that security
will be provided to them. Where they have returned, nothing has happened.”In
the beginning, none of the displaced people were returning to their villages.
Now, people from only 5-6 villages are left in the camps. “Jaisi bhi stithi
banegi…if they feel they can return then they can stay. If they don’t feel that
they can stay again in the same place, then they…won’t have to.” The SSP clarified
that depending on how the situation evolves, the Muslims who feel comfortable
to return can do so, and that the others will not be forced to return. It may
be pertinent that the police is in fact being accused of forcing many Muslims
to return. Also, the administration’s withdrawal of supplies to the relief
camps is a clear indication that they want the Muslims to go away from the
camps.
“Around
41,000 to 42,000 people have returned to their homes. But in places, the where
the memory of what happened is very strong, as they have seen killings, deaths,
the people are afraid to return. We are also not applying pressure on them (to
return).”
“Sarkar
ki taraf se aid band ho gayi hai.”
The
SSP opined that most of the people who left their villages were Muslims without
land. “If they are healthy and able-bodied, then they tend to think that they
may as well stay on where they are (near camps, or elsewhere). They are mostly
labourers, or craftsmen, so they feel they can get work anywhere—they still
have to make a living the same way.”
“Our
officials are going from village to village to explain, re-assure, and talk to
the people” and that “we shall do all that we can do. Outreach contact and shanti
sadbhavna - both are being done. We are approaching the muezzins, older people.
One of the things we have recently started to do is to reach out to the younger
people.”
“There
are too many arms here. There are just too many—what can we do?”
“There
is a lot of rivalry between people as well. We are conducting checks, on the
basis of suspicion as well as on the bases of information. We are applying
pressure (dabish) on people.”
“We
cannot call these events purely communal. In most of the cases, the Jats have
been involved. In some villages there have been non-Jat Hindus involved, but
predominantly, the problem is between Jats, and Muslims.”
On
being asked about the representation of Muslims in the police force he said -
“A policeman is just a policeman. We do not look at them from the perspective
of community or origin.”
The
local journalists we had met had told us that the army had been made to wait at
the entrance of Muzzafarnagar even as the worst of violence took place in the
area. We asked the SSP about the veracity of this statement. Although the
present SSP was not in charge of the situation then, he denied that the then DM
and SSP allowed the violence to take place. “We did not wait after calling the
army. The road to Phugana is very bad, as is the case in Qutba Kutbi. That is
what would have taken time” (and thereby the killings).
Regarding
the prevailing situation he said that - “I cannot say that the situation is
absolutely peaceful but yes now it will be OK. The situation is normalizing in
all different ways—no rumours are floating about, incidents are under control
and so on…The government aid has been stopped now. The relationships between
the Chaudharys and the Maliks, is still intact. Hopefully the problems (of
residents in camps) will also be solved very soon.”
Revisit of camps at Shahpur and
Bassi Kalan:
During
our second visit to the city of Muzaffarnagar and to the camps on which date
the intensity of tension that could be felt was perceptibly less as compared to
our first visit.
Contrary
to the claims of the ADM, the camps still existed but the government’s signboards, announcing
their presence, had been removed. The signboard on the top of the gateway of
the Madarsa at Bassi Kalan camp that once said Rahat Shivir had been pulled
down. We met Jahoor (65 years of age) from Qutba-Kutbi who had moved out of the
camp after receiving the compensation but does not want to go to his village.
He wants to settle down in the land organized by the Jamaat near Shahpur. He
laments that his son, with his own family, has not been given compensation.
People still living in tents told us that while 213 families had left the
camps, 200 families still remained in the camps.
Dulehra
is a village in the vicinity of Qutba and Kutbi villages that was not directly
affected by riots. Muslims from Dulhera fled out of fear and do not want to go
back. Their name is not in the RR list. Most of them belong to landless artisan
and craftsmen classes. Out of 70 families five were landed Muley Jats who have
gone back.
The
refugees from Kakada were emphatic about not returning as their houses were
still being damaged and looted. From Qutba out of 170 families 142 have taken
the compensation. From Kutbi out of 160 families 21 are still left in the
camps. The Qutba and Kutbi villagers once again reiterated the role of Devender
Singh (husband of the lady pradhan of the village and the de facto head of the
village) and a nephew of Mukesh Chaudhari, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav
government, in fomenting riots in their villages. Qutba-Kutbi villagers were
facing problems in getting documentation done to access compensation. The
problems range from lack of necessary documents to refusal by banks and SDM to
cooperate. Some of the 213 resettled Muslims have bought land at Shahpur itself
at Rs. 4000 per yard, which is about Rs. 2.5 to 3 lakhs per family. Samshad of
-Qutba- Kutbi has four bighas of the land in the village and a huge house but
is not sure of safety of life and property and does not want to go back. Their
attackers were their own neighbours and they are roaming around freely, but are
absconding according to the police.
In
conclusion, after the revisit to the camps we can state that most have people
have taken compensation after signing the affidavit and many of them have left
the camps, shifted to relatives and friends or taken rooms on rent in Shahpur
and Budhana. Some have moved as far as Loni in the vicinity of Delhi. Most of
them are landless laborers, craftsmen and artisans and felt that they can explore
work options anywhere. None of them
wants to go back.
People
have essentially been left to their own devices. They are completely at the
mercy of Madrasa committee, or charity of friends and relatives. As a result
there are those who continue to face huge problems. Muniba of Kakada village is
one such victim. In Kakada, she used to live with her brother-in-law and his
family in the same house. Muniba says that her brother in law has “decamped
with the relief money”. He also ran off with all of Muniba’s and her husband’s
belongings. She, however, cannot claim compensation, which is given on a
per-family basis, not per couple.
Despite
the genuine problems that people like Muniba might be facing, the
administration has stuck to its stand that none of the joint families that
earlier shared a house will now get compensation on any other basis. Muniba
says around 15 houses of Muslims have been damaged in Kakada, including hers.
Her house was near a mosque. She reports that one of the key reasons for not returning
is the Jats’ insistence that they do not pray or attend the prayers in the
mosque.
The
residents at the camp also have to bear pressure from the local Maulana, who
suddenly appeared on the scene and started shouting at them while they spoke
with us. He said, “In the night you stay with us, and in the day you start
talking about going back. What is your problem? Why do you need to leave this
place? What is your urgency?”
With
winter approaching its peak, the remaining residents, though half the number since
our initial visit, face continuing lack of relief and supplies, including
blankets and clothes, medicines, food and water. Nawab, s/o Gyasuddin, from
Dulheri, escaped with 73 other families. He is a mason. He says the root of the
problem is the terror in the minds of the Muslims after the violence that took
place at Qutba. He told us that the people in Dulheri were also asked not to
read the namaz by Jats.
Kakada’s
Rukhsana, d/o Haroon, says she got rations thrice from the government. Her
house has been looted and she does not want to return. Shahnaz, also from
Kakada, w/o Momin, a mason, says her house too has been looted. She says that
her name is not on the rolls of people entitled to claim compensation. Her two
children fell sick at the camp. Though they have since recovered, she could not
provide them medical care.
Murshida,
w/o Umar, also from Kakada, does not want to return to the village on account
of fear. She does not expect the police to support Muslims who want to return.
Others at the camp also said that they are absolutely not interested in
returning, and so they should be paid the compensation. “When we do not want to
stay there, why should we be forced to return?” says Irfan.
Zahoor,
an old man from Qutba, expressed a lot of pain at having to leave the village.
“We used to live together as brothers (i.e. Hindus and Muslims). We never had a
fight.” His sons and nephews who sit around him say that the Qutba Jats, who
were his friends, had a habit of “joking” with them, about how if there was
ever a Hindu-Muslim fight, they would first kill their Muslim friends,
including him. “They have finally done it,” the younger men said. They
associate the meeting attended by Rajnath Singh a year ago, on the sugarcane
issue, in Qutba, with the communalization of the area.
Encounter en route at a Sugar
Crusher:
We stopped on the way at a crusher of a Muslim where he,
a few Jats and some other men were having an evening session of chat and
refreshment. One of the persons present there introduced himself as Swaraj
Singh, the sugar cooperative chairman of Kakra village. He said that there is
no conflict between Jats and Muslims but the outsiders, and he hesitantly named
the RSS, did everything. He repeated the story that they want them to be back
but they are not willing to return due to the compensation that is being
offered.
Qutba and Kutbi now do not have a single Muslim family.
Similarly the Muslims of Mohammadpur Raisingh have all taken shelter at nearby
Hussainpur. Kakada too is devoid of Muslims. The people in the relief camps had
made it clear that wherever pradhans such as from Budhana and Shamli visited
the relief camps and took Muslims back home, the Muslims were ready to return.
Muniba from Kakada said a fresh survey of affected families was ordered after
Jats raised a hue and cry about Muslims getting “excessive benefits”. But when
the government officials went to conduct fresh survey Kakada villagers did not
allow it.
The inferences we draw from the
findings
What
is actually being witnessed in the Muzaffarnagar-Shamli belt in Western UP is a
tearing apart of the social fabric in the villages apparently for electoral
ends. While the Hindutva forces and the BJP are proactive in fomenting trouble,
the SP is also out to use the situation for electoral gains. In this process
the longstanding composite culture of the area is being irreversibly damaged
and there is also an attempt to ensure permanent demographic changes. The
following can be inferred from the findings:
1. It
is clear that Muslim-Jat electoral combination wrought by Charan Singh has
broken down and this happened in the post-Mandal Commission period when Jats
were left out of the OBC list. Jats, for long leaders of backward caste
consolidation, feel isolated and marginalized.
2. The
entire region is an agrarian economy where extensive use of capitalist methods
has been superimposed on a feudal base. The dominant culture of the area is
feudal patriarchal. Landed community of the area is predominantly Jat. While
top less than five per cent(4.78 per cent of the top sections own 26.73 per
cent of the land, the lower 60 per cent of the population own about 20 per cent
of the land, with land holdings of less than one hectare. The
agrarian crisis and stagnant productivity has led to a crisis in this
community. The rate of increase in productivity over last decade has been less
than 4.5 per cent while in the state as a whole it has been over 7 per cent (Reference Needed).
Young Jats are not in significant numbers in higher education
and usually look for jobs in the police and army. The SP government’s policy of
reserved posts for OBCs in the UP police, further squeezed the jobs available
for youth of this community.
3. The
dominant culture is patriarchal and the killings by Jat khaps of their own
girls is heinous. The call for “bahu beti izzat” is firstly a patriarchal call
for compliance by women of upper castes to patriarchal norms.
4. The
Muslims are either landless agricultural labourers but a large number of them
live in towns and are artisans, or are employed in jobs in other parts of the
country. Even where they live in villages, members of the family work outside
and their incomes come back home, helping the families to prosper. In this belt
itself, in several villages Muslims were buying lands from Jats.
5.
6. The
friction between Jats and Muslims was being built up over months. The Sohram
incident of 8th August and other such incidents are examples. A Jat
magazine - Rashtriya Jat Kranti Patrika,
[I2] has
carried an essay on the “Bahu Beit Izzat” campaign. The magazine
also tries to create a united front of all Hindus and co-opts Sikhs into the
‘alliance’ in its September 2013 issue. The magazine is published by former
journalists from Jansath. The
publisher, Mr. S. Katran claims the magazine is published by taking ‘inputs’
from people, and that it is funded by the Saraswat Sangathan.
7. The
area has been seen intense tours by BJP leaders in the past few months. This
communal violence here must be seen in the background of such incidents in the
rest of UP since the last assembly elections and particularly since the
appointment of Amit Shah as BJP incharge of UP. There have been a number of
attempts by Hindutva forces over the past few months to rake up communal
atmosphere in the state beginning from renewed talk of Ram Mandir and aborted
“Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama” at Ayodhya. More importantly, there have been close
to a hundred reported communal disturbances in the state over the past one year
that have repeatedly exposed the Akhilesh Yadav led SP government.
8. The
clashes reflect total breakdown of governance. There is thorough communalization
of the state machinery. The police and administration did little to prevent the
violence.
9. Mulayam
Singh’s SP has made out an affidavit for ghettoization of Muslims in return for
five lakh compensation. The SP government has virtually routed all relief
through Muslim organizations. These organizations are also preparing to build
separate residential areas around Muslim localities to resettle the Muslims
displaced by the violence.
10. In
incidents of killings in Jat dominated villages most of those accused of the
killings have not been arrested.
11. The
fact of the matter is that while elopements and marriages of Jat girls and Muslim
boys have occurred, in reality they very few in number. Their numbers have been
vastly exaggerated in order to drive a wedge between these two communities. The
sustained campaign of communalizing demography has also paid dividends. This
general sense of outrage in the feudal families and their need to rein in their
own women has been exploited by the Hindutva forces. Interestingly the same
logic is being used by Muslim organizations to explain why it is right to
uproot the Muslims from the villages of their forefathers and relocate them in
Muslim majority areas.
12. Much
is being made by the Administration of Muslims refusing to return to their
villages. In reality, Muslims from villages whose pradhans are coming to take
them back, are going back. For the others the government has not come forward
to categorically announce and take measures for protection of those willing to
go back to their villages. The government’s affidavit itself speaks of its
intentions. The Administration is trying to confuse the reality which is that
SP government connives in resettling Muslim in Muslim majority areas within the
same electoral constituencies. Despite all the prevarication of the
Administration the fact is that the SP government has not withdrawn the
affidavit which stipulates that anyone taking compensation will not return to
their villages.
13. Changes
in demography have already taken place in some of the rural areas. Several
villages have been rendered devoid of Muslims.
14. The
Administration talks of giving protection by RAF and PAC. PAC has historically
been viewed as a communal force and it does not have any promising record of
protecting Muslims during communal flare-ups.
The demands from the government
The following demands
acquire top most priority in our opinion under the prevailing circumstances:
1. All
the accused named in the FIRs should be arrested.
2. Decommunalize
the state apparatus.
3. Restore
all villagers back to their homes.
4. Scrap the affidavit which was taken against
five lakh compensation amount.
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