Muzaffarnagar: the siege within

Muzaffarnagar:

the siege within

Communalism and the Role of the State :

An Investigation into Muzaffarnagar

Violence and its aftermath

A Report by :

Mohan Rao, Ish Mishra, Pragya Singh &  Vikas Bajpai

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From the Publishers....

Incidents of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in Uttar Pradesh have once again brought

to the fore the cynical communal mobilization by the

ruling class parties and pervasive communalization of

state machinery. Communalism, political chauvinist

mobilization on religious line, has been a time tested

weapon of the ruling class parties in their service of

imperialism, comprador big capitalists and big landlords,

and in their pursuit for power in this anti-people semicolonial,

semi-feudal system, decadent to the core and

unresponsive to the people’s needs. The incidents on

which they base their communal drive are only incidental,

used to unleash the violence they meticulously plan and

systematically execute to polarize the people on the lines

desired by them.

The condemnable incident involving killing of three

youth in Kawal in an alleged altercation over eve-teasing

was seized upon by the forces out to whip up communal

frenzy. Their prior planning is evidenced by the attacks

in places far off from the place of this incident and

targeting of innocent persons not in any way connected

with this nor even opposing the communal campaign

being conducted. Moreover, spurt of violent incidents

prior to Kawal and a campaign attacking minority

community being conducted in the area further

emphasize the essentially pre-planned nature of violence

waiting to be unleashed.

Muzaffarnagar violence has brought the focus on

RSS-BJP’s communal drive particularly in UP and the

conduct of SP Govt. there during this violence and also

in earlier incidents of violence against Muslims in the

state. Besides it has brought into focus the conduct of

the police and administrative machinery in preventing,

containing and handling this violence and its aftermath.

In Western UP Jats have been and are the main

landowning castes and Muslims, constituting sizable

section of population, are predominantly in towns and

consist of artisans, agricultural labourers, town labourers

like loaders, rikshaw pullers, and the like. Among Jats

the highest number is of poor and middle peasants while

some are rich peasants and a very few landlords. Though

small in number, these landlords have good command

over the community, dominate their Khap panchayats

and are the main power brokers, the vehicles of ruling

class influence in the community, dominating

cooperatives, marketing societies and rural local bodies.

They have branched into real estate and also other

businesses and some of them have struck it rich. Work

in agriculture has dwindled with increasing mechanization

leading to large scale under-employment particularly of

youth which are being targeted by ruling class parties

and dominant social forces pushing in drugs and

promoting lumpenization. Education, particularly higher

education is low and they are in jobs in police and forces.

Social life of Jats too has undergone change. They

have been the main middle caste in the region, not

counted as one among them by upper castes and way

above the lower castes, mainly the agricultural labourers

and service castes of the rural areas. Initially with

Congress, Jats became the mainstay of Chowdhary

Charan Singh’s party and through that emerged as a

leading part of the backward caste alliance. Charan Singh

tried to form a social alliance of backwards and Muslims

and in this region of western UP, it translated into

formidable Jat-Muslim alliance weaning away a section

of Muslims from Congress. But with Mandal Commission

leaving them out of the backwards, RSS-BJP was able

to make inroads into them, who had largely kept away

from this Hindu communal party till then. However, a

large section of Jats continued to be with Ajit Singh.

With entry of RSS-BJP and its insidious communal

campaign, the traditional hold of Arya Samaj on the land

owning agricultural castes of Western UP started getting

eroded as Arya Samaj apparatus itself got sucked up

into larger Hindu consolidation sought by RSS-BJP,

giving up on its campaign on social evils. Its decline

over the last two decades is significant.

It has been the area of the imperialist dependent

model of agricultural development, the Green Revolution.

Based on the use of seeds demanding maximum

exploitation of land and water with high use of chemicals

(pesticides, fertilizers), this model is at the root of the

crisis of agriculture in this region. Growth in productivity

has declined with increase in inputs not leading to

proportionate growth in produce. Further, costs of inputs

is escalating much faster than the rise in the prices of

produce squeezing agriculture as a profitable venture,

leading to large scale movement of peasantry for the

demand of remunerative prices. With falling employment

in agriculture and declining income from it, Jat peasantry

has become crisis ridden and indebtedness has risen.

With it has deepened the social crisis of this community

oscillating between new and old, between feudal

patriarchal values and new winds coming through the

youth, boys and girls, going to and forced to go to cities

for higher education and jobs.

Relative decline of agriculture in relation to other

sectors of economy has seen relative rise of other social

groups engaged in other trades. This has disturbed the

old gap between landowning and non-land owning social

groups in the villages and has threatened the relations

of dependence. The age old dominance, though not

undermined, is under threat. Income from non agricultural

sources is increasingly asserting itself. Finding

themselves in crisis and their traditional dependents

doing relatively better, the peasant patriarch is facing

social uncertainty besides economic hardship. This

situation has been seized upon by the ruling class parties

to capitalize on their ‘fears’ to make them subservient

and tools of their machinations to enlarge their base.

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Muslims have been the poorest in the region.

Lullabies of feudal past of their elite and bygone era are

regularly fed to them to dull the pain of their daily

existence. Indian Muslims have suffered the most due

to India’s partition in 1947. Deprived of Govt. jobs and

denied Govt. loans and aid, the Muslim artisans also

suffered due to encroachment of industry into traditional

sectors of their employment. But enterprising artisans

have seized upon whatever opportunity came their way,

travelled wherever work took them. But even the modest

rise in their status is not acceptable to the forces of

majority communalism. They are the easy targets of the

powers that be in society with administrative machinery

always willing to lend a helping hand. This has been a

clearly discernible pattern across India, including UP.

RSS-BJP have clearly understood that they have to

score big in UP if they have to have any chance of

coming to power at the Centre as they are virtually absent

in quite a large part of the country. In view of coming

elections they have drawn a clear plan to communally

polarize the state. They brought Amit Shah to UP to

execute the plan. Western UP with is social mix has

been one of their main targets and Jats the social group

they targeted to win over. They floated new fronts, started

new publications, built their rumour mill and unleashed

a campaign to save honour of bahu-beti on the lines of

communal campaign unleashed against Muslims and

Christians in Gujarat. Arms were accumulated and youth

were lured for training. RSS organizers and BJP leaders

became the nodal points for unleashing this campaign

among a community undergoing its own crisis. They

accumulated powder and kept it dry. Certain sections in

the areas of their influence, particularly of well to do and

of criminals, were prepared to execute the plan. Any

reason was good reason and the rest is history.

While RSS-BJP game plan is clear and easily

understandable, SP Govt.’s conduct has baffled many,

particularly those not willing to see the communal

character of Indian state machinery and machinations

of ruling class parties, who fail to see or don’t wish to

see social division in addition to repression and reforms

as an essential tool of ruling classes to maintain their

anti-people rule, who wish to solve this problem of

communalism within the present system setting a lot of

store on some ruling class parties and who believe in

the secular certification department of CPM, CPI. Main

ruling class parties essentially pander to majority

communalism. Those of them who take Muslims as

important part of their vote base for contention for power,

posit themselves as secular but their secularism does

not travel beyond security of lives to Muslims. Sachar

Committee report on the conditions of Muslims is a

testimony about the performance of states ruled by these

so-called secular parties. SP Govt.’s making receipt of

financial compensation dependent on Muslims pledging

not to return to their villages, shows their true design.

They placate majority communalism sweeping Muslims

into ghettos, their rights compromised but votes intact.

Muslims should be happy that they are allowed to live

here. While RSS-BJP propagate Hindu rashtra, these

so-called secular parties subscribe to Hindu rule. The

difference is by no means minor but falls much short of

genuine secularism.

Of particular importance, and demonstrated by all

incidents of communal violence in the country is the

role of state agencies, police and administration, which

are deeply infected with Hindu communalism. Because

of this character of Indian state machinery, there have

been very few communal 'riots' in India post 1947. Even

if they erupt, they are quickly converted into anti-minority

violence. Police remains a mute spectator where

minorities are at the receiving end and intervene on

behalf of majority community where they are at the

receiving end. Very low representation of Muslims in

police and forces is an important contributing factor; in

case of Muzaffarnaar though 37% of the population, their

representation is only 3% in police. And it is not only

due to any aversion to joining police, but due to deliberate

policy of keeping them out of forces. The communal

character of the state machinery in the states emerging

out of British India is all too glaring.

Because of deeply communal character of the police

and administration, they are involved in the communal

violence targeting minorities. This involvement puts paid

to any effort later to find out the truth relying on

administrative reports and police investigation. Examples

of anti-Sikh genocide in Delhi and elsewhere in 1984

and mass killings of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, amply

prove how the players orchestrating such heinous crimes

get scot free and are given clean chits as no records

are maintained by the police and administration.

Removing the names of accused from the FIRs after

supervision by senior officers in Muzaffarnagar violence

is part of this pattern.

A team consisting of Dr. Mohan Rao, Professor,

Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU;

Dr. Ish Misra, Department of Political Science, Hindu

College, Delhi University; Ms. Pragya Singh, Journalist,

Outlook and Dr. Vikas Bajpai, Ph.D. Scholar, Centre for

Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU has brought

out a report after its visits to the area in November, 2013.

This report, released on December 30, 2013, brings out

several salient features of this violence and its handling

by the state. We are publishing this report to acquaint

the people of these. A postscript written after the visit

by a member of the team in the last days of December

2013 has been added.

CPI(ML)-New Democracy

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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.

Our team consisted of four persons: Dr. Ish Misra,

who teaches Political Science in Hindu College, Delhi

University; Dr. Mohan Rao, Professor, 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 27th. 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 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 (Muzaffarnagar) 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 immediately post 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 of violence directed

generally against Hindus, but were of the Jats who were

returning from 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 violence-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.

Communalism and the Role of the State: An

Investigation into the Communal Violence in

Muzaffarnagar and its Aftermath

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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 weighs 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 religious

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 (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 was

also routed through the religious organizations of the

minority community. The earlier report on Muzaffarnagar

riots brought out by the Centre 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 to comfort the

victims.

– It was said by officials of the administration on

November 27, 2013 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 by end-December 2013, 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 Kutba 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

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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 is 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 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. Character of violence

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 in this Area towards

Muslims

We could not find any remorse among the Jats for

the suffering being faced by the Muslims. They rather

heaped insult on 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 the loss of lives on

the part of Muslims. For example with respect to Kaval

incident it was said that “while the involved Hindu families

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.

However, some persons in the camps did tell that

the atmosphere in the area had been vitiated for the past

some time – ‘Fiza kharab ke ja rahi thi.’ Some felt that

BJP was clearly behind this turn of events and recalled

that the BJP president Raj Nath Singh had attended the

Jat Panchayat held six months back at Kutba village –

the village in which the maximum number of Muslims

were reported killed. Even while going to and while

returning from the maha-panchayat held on the 8th of

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September at Nangla-Mandaur, provocative slogans such

as – "Musalmanon ke do hi sthan – Pakistan ya

kabristan" ( there are only two places for Muslims, either

Pakistan or graves) and "Narendra Modi Zindabad" - were

raised while passing through Muslim villages and in front

of Madarsas

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 “eveteasing”

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 are 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. If the Kaval incident was one

such incident, it was effectively propagated and given a

communal colour by communal forces who are

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 infanticides, 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 interreligious,

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.

Patriarchal society has seized the chance in

controlling “their” young women under the slogan of “bahu

8

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 are 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 Nangla 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 Chaudhary Harkishan Baba of Gathwal Khap,

Chaudhary 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. Nangla

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 is 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

9

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 on 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.)

However, the Jats in the Sohram tractor opened fire

from their firearms and sped away. The tractor trolley

from Kakada that was following the Sohram trolley was

incidentally 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, sixty five year old Mahender, died on September

22nd at Meerut hospital. His post-mortem report was

obtained by us.

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 overall 10 Baliyan Jats were killed

on the evening of September 7th.

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 Kutba, 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 Kutba 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 Kutba and Kutbi Villages

In Kutba, the village pradhan is a woman, Meena,

whose husband Devinder (Pradhanpati) exercises power.

This pradhan had been supported in the past three

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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 Kutba-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

Kutba. 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 'force' rescued

were taken to camps 1 and 2 at Shahpur.

The refugees from Kutba-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,

further adding 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 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 Kutba-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

Kutba resident Maulvi Yaseen (he had a 21 roomed house

on one bigha land, and 2 bigha farmland—property worth

around Rs 50 lakh), Mohd Hanif, who owned a two-storey

house and property worth Rs. 40 lakh; Imran s/o

Shahbeer, who had ten rooms made in little less than

500 yards, Iddu s/o Rahmat, who owned a house and a

seven bigha farmland, Imran (s/o Shahbeer) had two

bighas farm land and also Yakub, Nawab, Yamin and

Kayyam each had a house and two bighas 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 8th 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

11

jadoo.” (This is the magic of Amit Shah, the BJP incharge

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 Kutba-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 muchpropagated

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.

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 on 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 Kutba-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 the 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

12

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 Loi 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 was

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, an activist of Jamiat 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 Shri 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

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 outnumbering

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

13

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 Kutba and Kutbi wherein Jat girls had

eloped with Muslim boys, two in July and another in

August. These incidents had angered the Jats.

Shri Devdutt mentioned one incident in detail. On

August 8th, 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.

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

10th. 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 Gathwal

Khap led by Baba Harkishan.

After driving from Muzaffarnagar to the nearest town

of Budhana, where the army had been called on

September 8th) 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 neighbouring 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 from the version we later got

from Hussainpur residents.

The story at Mohammadpur Raisingh was that an exarmy

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

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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 Gathwal 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

15

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 Gathwal Khap head Baba

Harkishan’s sugarcane fields were reportedly burnt, 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 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 more Jats

have 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 covillagers.

The President of the Aman Committee of 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 timings

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 year

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) 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 their 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. The

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 shaken and scared young men.

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 postmortem

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.

16

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

nor 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

17

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 on the 9th of November,

one at Shahpur– Shahpur Camp No. 1, and the other at

Bassi Kalan. 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 that 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.

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 camp was

bereft of any civic amenities worth the 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 camp,

either arranged for 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 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 Kutba) 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

18

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 was 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 who, 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 Kutba-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 happened to tell Dr Harveer Singh of his

subsequent programme for 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

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 Loi, 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 Loi 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

the danger of further ghettoization of society, he said

that some of them are settling in non-Muslim areas also.

The government, he said, had 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 for 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 from the Muslim refugees, who are

increasingly under pressure from the Madarsa

Committees not to return to their original villages and to

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.

19

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 riotaffected

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 Loi 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 onesided

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 police stations–

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

Kutba-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

the incident at Mohammadpur Raisingh -Hussainpur.

This, the SSP says, was because the SHO was accused

20

by people of Hussainpur that he did not take action in

time. He says that there was police (UP Police) present

at Mohammadpur Raisingh 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 Raisingh 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, 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 Kutba Kutbi. That is what would

21

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 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 Kutba-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 on 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 Kutba 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 Kutba, out of 170 families, 142 have taken

the compensation. From Kutbi out of 160 families 21

are still left in the camps. The Kutba 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 violence in their villages. Kutba-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 Kutba-

Kutbi has four bighas of the land in the village and a

huge house but is not sure of the 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 can 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 Kutba. He told us that the people in

Dulheri were also asked by Jats not to read the namaz.

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

22

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 Kutba, 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 Kutba Jats, who were his friends, had a

habit of “joking” with him, 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

Kutba, 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 Kakada 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.

Kutba 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 a fresh survey

Kakada villagers did not allow it.

The inferences drawn 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. The agrarian crisis and

stagnant productivity has led to a crisis in this

community.

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. 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.

3. 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 land from Jats.

4. 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, has carried an

essay on the “Bahu Beit Izzat” campaign. The magazine

also tries to create a united front of all Hindus and coopts

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.

5. The area has 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.

23

6. 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.

7. Mulayam Singh’s SP has made out an affidavit

for ghettoization of Muslims in return for five lakh

compensation. The SP government has routed virtually

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.

8. In incidents of killings in Jat dominated villages

most of those accused of the killings have not been

arrested.

9. The fact of the matter is that while elopements

and marriages of Jat girls and Muslim boys have

occurred, in reality they are very few in number. Their

numbers have been vastly exaggerated in order to drive

a wedge between these two communities. This general

sense of outrage in these families and their desire 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.

10. 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.

11. Changes in demography have already taken

place in some of the rural areas. Several villages have

been rendered devoid of Muslims.

12. 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.

(Released on December 30, 2013)

24

Five months after the violence against Muslims in

Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts, at least 12,000

people were still living in small and big camps across

both districts late in December 2013. After the continuing

misery of the displaced riot victims in the various relief

camps generated some negative attention for the SP

government of the state, the local administration started

to evict people forcibly. Bulldozers were called in to

remove all signs of the camps, including the tents and

people’s belongings. This was done in at least 10 camps

including the camps at Loi, Shahpur, Malikpura, Bassi

Kalan and the Idgah camp at Kandhla, starting December

25. As on 27 November 2013 the compensation of Rs 5

lakh had been given to around 900 families. The DM

Kaushal Raj Sharma was unwilling to provide us the

latest figures, thereby leaving scope for speculation on

how many of the riot affected families had been forced

to simply pitch tent in another location after their camps

were uprooted.

Since December however the administration has

focused only on getting the camps evicted. After razing

the camps, the grounds in the villages where these

camps were located, and the empty plots of land where

the tents were pitched were dug up to ensure that nobody

can set up tents again or access the camps from the

main roads of villages such as Shahpur. In Shahpur,

Kandhla and other camps, people had taken shelter in

relatives’ houses within the village. Breaking down of

their camps also meant that a large section of refugees

also moved to Muzaffarnagar city or Delhi. Uprooted from

the camps the people had made temporary shelters in

places where there used to be rubbish dumps, or on wet

land, on uneven patches of earth, on bus stops and

corners of fields. This could be seen across Shamli in

particular, with small groups of two or three Muslim

families, or even single families, taking up shelter under

trees, in empty buildings etc. The visibility of the camps

as a constant reminder of the riots that shook

Muzaffarnagar was sought to be invisibilized simply by

dispersing the riot affected people such that they lose

any claim whatsoever for seeking relief which somehow

they seemed to be entitled to as residents of formal relief

camps.

There was also no change in the stance of local Jat

leaders and Jats living in the riot-affected areas or those

in the administration, in the four months since the riots.

The leaders insisted that the Muslims should either return

to their homes, or take the compensation and find another

place to live in, except the original village. Meanwhile,

the narrative of ‘Love Jihad’ is still very much alive and

kicking in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar area as was echoed

by the Jat Mandal chairman and a leader of the Bharatiya

Kisan Union, Mangeram Pawar. On 28th December 2013,

at his house in Tanda Majra village in Budhana block,

he talked about the need to safeguard “bahu beti izzat”

and asserted that due their “very nature” the Muslims

were doing injustice to locals by launching their ‘Love

Jihad’. He accused that Muslims wore “Om” pendants

and Janeus in order to trap Jat and Hindu women into

having relationship with them. Pawar said that Hindus

should pass a ‘fatwa’ demanding that all Muslims should

run away from the district. The post-Kawal panchayat,

which was earlier described as a mourners’ assembly,

was now routinely described as part of a fight to bring

the injustice perpetrated by Muslims to the

administration’s notice. Pawar could not state what the

injustice is, or the ways in which the state government

has favored Muslims.

On the other hand some Jats bemoaned the lack of

attention by the administration to their problems related

to farming. Balinder, pradhan of Bharwali village, said

that the Jats are unable to get the correct prices for

their sugarcane crop, and that the unpaid dues of the

previous season’s crop had led to Jats themselves being

indebted to local moneylenders.

There were Jat villages which managed to maintain

communal harmony inspite of being under tremendous

pressure by Jat pradhans / Jats of adjoining villages as

also by various acts of omission and commission on

the part of the administration, to attack Muslims in their

village. This however was not a simple task by any means

as becomes evident from the experience of Bharwali

village. Walls in the village could be seen plastered with

slogans calling for communal amity to be maintained.

The family of the village pradhan said that amid the rumors

of Jats being attacked in different villages they came

under a lot of pressure on the 8th and the 9th of September

to organize attacks on Muslims in their village. As a

measure of resisting these pressures, the pradhan of

the village warned the pradhans of the adjoining Mulle

Jat villages to desist from attacking Jats in their villages

else there would be retributive attacks on Muslims in

Bharwali. Indeed there were some sporadic incidents of

violence in Bharwali as well, but they turned out to have

been motivated by personal enmity rather than by

communal design. The pradhan said that they did find it

difficult to control the younger Jat men from indulging in

violence when the violence was at its peak between 8th

to 16th September. After all, as he said – “Everybody

does get angry when bahu-beti izzat becomes the issue.”

Still they could manage to prevail upon the younger Jats.

Some of them were also sent away from the village to

Meerut, Haridwar and other places during the worst of

violence.

The action of the police to issue unilateral orders for

confiscation of arms from the Jats of the village also

vitiated the atmosphere further by sowing suspicion

POSTSCRIPT

25

among them as to the administration’s intent. Balinder,

the village pradhan, said that it is increasingly difficult

to stress upon communal harmony when the

administration itself plays a negative role. The village

resisted returning its licensed arms to the police

after September 9, and argued successfully in the high

court that only Jats were being targeted by this drive.

Even though Bharwali is just a stone’s throw from Kakda

village from where Muslims were evicted on September

8, it is situated close to Shahpur and is surrounded by

Muslim dominated villages. This could have been an

additional factor which restrained the Jats in Bharwali

from attacking Muslims. Balinder rued that several

Muslims from Bharwali were claiming rations from the

government in the Shahpur camp, although they

continued to live in the village. He informed that there

were some who decided to leave the village after the

riots even though there was no violence.

Loi Camp

The Loi camp in Shamli block, is about 15 km from

Tanda Majra on an absolutely broken and run-down road.

It takes a couple of hours to cover the final approach

road of about 6 km. Here the people from the worstaffected

Phugana and Lisarh made up the largest

numbers of refugees, but Muslims from other villages

were also there, particularly Bhajju, Veli, Lalu Khedi.

On November 27, the ADM Indramani Tripathi and

SSP HN Singh declared that Loi was the only camp still

functioning with about 1600 people. Even a month later,

as per ADM’s own admission there were about 1300

people living in the camp. Yet, he insisted that all the

residents who qualified for compensation had been given

the same. This raises questions regarding the efficacy

of the manner in which administration has distributed

relief and its effective coverage of all the riot victims.

Apparently, claim of having distributed relief was

considered sufficient by the administration to force the

closure of the camp and measures for the same were

started beginning on December 26. The same methods

were used - bulldozers to flatten and upturn the soil after

pulling down the tents despite people’s pleas to not

uproot them. Tripathi and others claimed the camp had

come up on the irrigation department’s land. He was

present at the camp with a force. He said that the

bulldozers had been brought to help construct new

houses for those who were being removed from tents.

The residents however denied this vehemently, claiming

that only about 100 people from the camp had received

the compensation of Rs 5 lakh and even these families

have not had the time to think of constructing new

houses. Jowar Hasan, 45, from Phugana, who sold

ready-made clothes from village to village reported that

he has not been given any compensation, nor has he

been promised any land or rehabilitation elsewhere. Of

his 6 children three studied in the local madarsa while

the other three had been been placed separately in a

government and a private school. If given compensation,

Hasan was willing to settle down in Loi village itself. For

him returning to his original village, Phugana, was out

of question. Hasan told that after the Kawal panchayat,

on the night of September 8, people in Phugana called

the village pradhan and deputy pradhan, both of whom

assured the Muslims that they will be safe. But ten

minutes later their houses were set on fire and they were

forced to run away. There was an absolute lack of trust

now.

Hasan has a brother named Salim Fauji in the army,

posted at Kapurthala. On September 9 Hasan called him

from the sugarcane fields around Phugana, where he

and the others were hiding. It was through the brother’s

help that the family was rescued. This was a common

refrain of those who escaped—that they themselves

called friends or family in the army in different parts of

the country, and that is how army jongas arrived to rescue

them.

Zahir Hassan was another person from Phugana who

was living in the Loi camp as on December 28. He also

made a living by selling ready-made clothes sourced

from Bareilly and Rampur, from village to village. He

lost two months of stock of clothes when his house in

Phugana was burned down by the Jats. Following the

incident he and his whole family moved to the camp.

Zahir said that though he had signed on “ADM Indramani

Tripathi’s conditions” in the affidavit (this is the same

affidavit which the government had made obligatory for

every riot victim to sign in order to avail of compensation)

he still did not receive any compensation. Zahir and his

family had moved from camp to camp for three days

without food and water before settling down in the Loi

camp, but here too there had been a shortage of supplies

since last 15 days.

Complaints regarding non-disbursement of

compensation were many. Dilshad, age 40 yrs was

another riot victim living in the Loi camp who came from

Phugana, but his name did not figure in the list of

beneficiaries entitled to compensation. He was hoping

that his name would be there in another list that he was

told would be declared a day later i.e. on 30th December.

Shakeel, 30 years of age, had escaped from Kharad

village. Nobody from Kharad either in the Loi camp, and

nor in all probability in the other camps had got any

compensation, as the village did not figure in the list of

affected villages. Initially only six, and later nine villages

were on the list of riot affected villages and it is people

displaced from these villages only who were entitled to

compensation.

Shakeel said that till the evening of September 7

nothing happened in their village. The villagers had been

receiving news of rioting in other villages and then in

Kharad as well the Jats and others started raising anti26

Muslim slogans including threats to kill them all. On the

morning of September 8, one 65 year old Muslim man

named Shabeer was killed. Then a Maruti car was burnt,

the masjid broken, followed by some Muslim houses

being set on fire. A local carpenter’s house was attacked

and Shakeel’s house too was looted. The household

belongings including doors and windows were looted from

Muslim houses.

Shakeel had not found even a day’s work since he

landed in the Loi camp four months back. His wife,

Gulfam, 28 yrs and his children stayed hungry on several

occasions and got fever as a result. They got no

compensation. The family even claimed that a person

named Vijender from their village came to the camp to

threaten them lest they filed any FIR against any person

from the village. The administration simply looked on

and they were told very clearly that they will not be given

any relief. All the help they got was through the charity

organized by the intezamia committee at the Loi camp.

Yunus, who had come to Loi from Phugana, had bought

land from a factory owner who had shut down his unit. He

said the factory owner, a Bania, was facing the ire of the

Jats and was under pressure from them to evict Yunus’s

family from the land. Yunus informed that he had got Rs.

5 lakh three months after arriving in Loi from Phugana. He

had signed the government affidavit giving an undertaking

to neither return to his village nor to claim any

compensation in lieu of his movable or immovable

property. He had a six-member family including four

children and worked as a mason. His house in Phugana

had been looted and burned. He lost silver, gold and

some furniture. Yunus said that he did not want to return

as he had no faith in the Jat community at all. For the time

being he had set up his house in a tent on the plot.

There were also families like that of Mohd Aamir who

were left high and dry because the joint families had

broken up but the compensation money was granted only

for one joint family. In Mohd Aamir’s case the entire

compensation had been claimed by his brothers while

he did not receive a single penny. His family’s tent at

Loi camp was uprooted on December 26 in the presence

of the ADM. His family, which includes his two small

kids, not only faced a stark future, but were at a total

loss to understand as to how to live by the day.

Meharban Khan also came to Loi camp from Phugana

village. He said that for the past three months the

authorities had been reassuring him that he will be given

Rs. 5 lakh in a matter of days; however that day was yet

to arrive. Though some people from his village had come

to take him back but he was too scared to return,

especially as those who attacked his house were moving

around freely in the village. Meharban said that before

the 7th and 8th of September he never thought that

anyone from his own village could attack him. But the

events that took place on the 8th of September had

completely unnerved him. He claimed that 17-18 people

were killed before his very eyes on the 8th of September.

Meharban with his family have taken up residence in

the cow-shelter of a well-to-do Muslim family in Loi village.

He had moved here as the district authorities had told

him that he will get compensation only if he first vacates

the camp. It had been five days since he started sharing

his residence with the buffaloes, but the compensation

was still nowhere in sight. His parents used to sleep in a

room outside; they broke down, worried about the future.

Meharban had not worked in four months; neither had

he looked for work, as he was too scared to leave his

family alone. All of his effort had gone into somehow

getting the compensation. He signed the affidavit required

by the government, but he said that he did not know

what exactly was written in it. His father, Mohd Mumtiaz,

used to issue donation receipts at the mosque in the

village. He too had signed the affidavit but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the local administration seemed to have

mastered the art of unashamedly falsifying facts and

figures. The ADM, Indramani Tripathi, unbelievably

asserted that the bulldozers were being used to prepare

the land for construction of new houses by the riot victims

and not for pulling down the camps. He even said that

the families from Phugana had been assured of

compensation varying between Rs 3 to 4 lakh, whereas

no such assurance was given to the people. According

to Tripathi there were 167 families from Phugana in the

Loi camp and that “All were satisfied” with the

arrangements.

There was also no trace of the food supplies that the

ADM claimed to have distributed. The Loi camp was

being progressively downsized. We noticed that by the

following evening on December 29th, there were far fewer

tents and many of the residents had resettled in Loi itself.

They had largely resettled around a large pond in the

village, in the same tents that were uprooted from the

camp. However, their condition remained miserable,

especially as on the night of 29th December it had rained

heavily, causing much nervousness and unease among

residents. A few other families had moved further inside

the village into empty plots or in shelters offered by

locals. Some other people had reportedly moved to Delhi

after availing the compensation.

Early in the morning of December 30, the DM of

Muzaffarnagar was at the Loi camp. He was there with a

force of around 50-60 policemen including senior officials.

He held a press conference on “health” outside the camp,

in which the focus was bizarrely on how to keep babies

safe in the cold; “Do not bathe them every day”, was his

caring advise to the people. He further assured that the

force was there only for “everyone’s security.”

But no sooner had the people bit into his deception

and lowered their guard, the police force accompanying

the DM swung into action and by late morning there were

27

just about 100 residents left in the camp and by evening

the entire camp had been shut down. The residents took

up shelter in village out-houses, or moved their tents to

empty plots within the village, or next to the village pond.

None among them had been given compensation except

one person.

Having accomplished the task of dismantling the

camp the DM admitted that dismantling the camps

creates a problem—but for the administration. He said

that tracking down the affected people and taking care

of their health and other needs will now be a challenge.

His opinion was that from the health and safety point of

view it was better for the residents to go away from the

camps. The “biggest achievement” of the administration,

in his opinion, was that in the last one month nobody

had died at the Loi camp. He claimed that despite

December being the coldest month, deaths did not happen

because the administration had prevailed upon the

“consciousness of parents”—they have been told “how

to care for their young children properly.” He further

claimed that the deaths that did take place in camps

were not because of the cold but because of the physical

trauma sustained by the people. He defended the

madarsa managing committees of the camps and state

officials in Lucknow who compared Muzaffarnagar with

Siberia—”The official had said that nobody dies of cold

and that is correct. The consciousness of those living

in camps has to be raised, and we have done that.”

Kandhla camp, December 29, 2013

When violence broke out, it was the chairman of the

local madarsa committee, his son and their friends who

rescued people from Bhaurakalan, Bhajju, Lisarh and

Phugana in mini-vans, motorcycles, SUVs on the

intervening night of September 8-9. This was stated by

many of the 800-odd refugees in this camp, who said

the police did not respond to their SOS requests. The

administration had not ordered this camp to be shut at

least till December 29, as the camp was within the Idgah

at Kandhla. However within two days this camp too was

forcibly evicted. The residents had pitched tents near

sugarcane fields, and were seen chewing sugarcane in

order to beat hunger. There was no food to eat, and the

displaced people were now deprived even of the charity

that the Idgah committee had been organizing in the

camp.

By September 11, there were 6,000 people living in

the Idgah camp. There were a large number of women

from Lisarh and Phugana villages at this camp who were

sheltered separately. Kareeman said that on the night

of September 8 the pradhan of their village, Sanju, asked

them to leave the village. It was around 9 PM at that

time. Upon knowing of their situation the chairman of

the madarsa committee of Kandhla arrived by 2 AM to

rescue them. Kareeman’s family lost their buffaloes, and

her brother-in-law’s son was killed by the Jats.

Anwari of Phugana village arrived in the Kandhla camp

with her son and husband in a military jonga. They lived

on rent in Phugana and their primary occupation was

sharpening implements. When the rioting broke out in

the village, the family made SOS calls to the police and

the pradhan of the village who did not help. Finally they

could flee to safety with the help of the army which

arrived at their village by 1 am.

30 years old Fatima came from Bhajju village under

similar circumstances on the morning of 8th September.

Her house had been set on fire and their rescue could

be possible with the help of the Kandhla committee.

Bhajju is a village about 6 km from Phugana and 10 km

from Lisarh, where the worst of the violence took place.

Fatima said that about 6 days before the rioting had

broken out, the Jats boys in the local school at Bhajju –

‘Saraswati Gyan Mandir,’ where her 12-year-old son

studied, told her son that they were going to kill him.

The school is run by an RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak

Sangh) affiliated organization.

The school at Bhajju is managed by the Principal

Kartik Kumar and his wife Sweety. Both are originally

from Bihar. Sweety is from Begusarai district of Bihar

and had moved here 7 years ago. The principal of the

school said that Muslims generally did not send their

children to his school because they make children recite

the gayatri mantra. There had been only 5 Muslim children

in his school. The school itself has been functioning for

about 12 years. He said that the school’s primary focus

was on discipline. They inculcate good behaviour, moral

and cultural education among their students, but in

English medium only. He was not aware of any warnings

or threats that could have been issues by 12-13 year

olds in his school to the 2-3 Muslim boys who studied

there. He informed that after the riots the Muslim students

were not attending the school. In the principal’s opinion

the best thing that had happened since September 2013

was the arrival of IG Ashutosh Pandey. He said that the

“nukkad sabhas” held by the IG were an effective way

to control violence.

According to Kartik Kumar’s wife Sweety, the root

cause of the crisis in September was that the local

Muslim boys (not those in her school) were harassing

the Hindu girls. She said that the Muslims have many

children whereas Jats and other Hindus have just one or

two.

Iqbal Malik was another of Kandhla camp’s resident

from Bhajju village. Back in his village he owned a shop

on the main road. He informed that the Muslims of Bhajju

were not killed because they were able to escape in time.

There were just about 10 Muslim families in the village

comprising of around 100 people. On our visit inside the

village we found that the Muslim neighborhood was just

one lane where all the houses had been burned. A local

village Bania (a Mittal by caste) asserted that the

Muslims had burned their own houses and taken away

all the precious items, burning what was worthless. Even

doors and windows of the houses were missing.

The Jats in the villages surrounding the Kandhla camp

however kept up their denial of any wrongdoing on their

part. In Bhaura Kalan, just a few km away, the few elderly

Jat men we conversed with – Choudhary Sukhbir Singh

and Choudhary Sheetal Singh among others, stressed

that like at Kharad, the Muslims of their village had left

on their own and that the Muslims were in the camps

because they wanted to seek compensation. They said

that the Jats wanted the government to sell the land of

Muslims and distribute the proceeds of the same to the

Jats. They even accused Muslims of taking away the

cattle belonging to Jats as they ran away. Bhaura Kalan

is a village of Baliyan Khap.

Hasanpur (Lisarh), December 31, 2013:

Lisarh is a huge village that consists of four smaller

majras (localities) of Kidarpur, Lisarh, Hasanpur and

Badshahpur. ’Billu Pradhan’, the former pradhan of Lisarh

lives in Hasanpur. Kidarpur, Hasanpur and Badshahpur

majras of Lisarh were witness to the worst violence that

had taken place in the district along with the villages of

Lankh, Phugana and Bahavadi which are nearby. Overall

70 per cent of the population of the four villages was of

Jats, and there were 2,100 Muslims in the four villages,

but now not even one Muslim family is left in the villages.

This gives us an idea of the extent to which demographic

change has been effected in some of the villages of the

district.

Billu Pradhan was particularly belligerent in his

utterances. He said that after the riots, the Jat biradari

can easily counter Muslims. Since Muslims were no more

there, he felt that the Jats could easily subject the Dalits

to their diktats including ensuring that they vote for BJP

in the coming electoins. On being quizzed regarding the

impact that migration of Muslims from the village would

have on agriculture, he claimed that the village had

52,000 bighas of land, but that the land holding size

was decreasing over the generations, leaving each

farming family to do its own labour rather than hire

outside help. According to him the Valmikis, telis and

other castes also prefer to do their own isolated work

and have their own homes and cattle. He was categorical

that the Jats no longer need Muslims to do their farm

work. The ex-Pradhan, his wife and sister said that ever

since the riots, they put their children to sleep by telling

them to “Go to sleep, or else the Muslims will come.”

They proudly narrated that slogans like “Garv se bolo

hum Hindu hain” and others of the kind were reverberating

in the area and that they had instructed their children to

beat up any Muslim that they find.

Billu pradhan was quite emphatic about the need for

Jats to go to temples and rediscover themselves as

“more Hindu.” He alleged that Muslims in the area were

claiming rights to 50 per cent of the land in the region on

the basis of their population (33 per cent of total

population of the region). He confessed that he was

earlier with the BSP but that now he has joined BJP. He

took us around Hasanpur village, showing the broken

deserted and ready-to-be-burned Muslim houses. It is

interesting to note how the demographic discourse has

changed in the region. Some of the top Muslim clerics

at Kandhla Camp also said that Muslims should not be

considered a minority but a “small majority” and get

benefits in sync with that.

In Lisarh majra of Lisarh village we saw at least 150-

200 Muslim houses in separate locations. Another local

here informed that Billu pradhan, who still runs the ration

shop in Hasanpur, had collected 20 drums of kerosine

before September 7, after the Kawal incident . He used

the fuel to burn over 100 houses in Lisarh but ran out of

fuel to burn the houses in his own neighborhood.

The ex-Pradhan himself informed that he is going to

be the BJP candidate in the ensuing elections and was

confident that even Harijans will cast their vote for BJP.

He claimed that they all wanted to clear Muslims from

the area, and informed that the local panchayats had

decided not to buy any land from Muslims who have

fled from the area. While the police claimed that it has

raided several places, particularly the worst affected

during the riots to confiscate weapons, the locals in this

village freely showed us their country made weapons.

There was not a single policeman within miles of Lisarh

and Hasanpur. We encountered only three check-posts

on the main road, but there were few cops manning them.

In fact, most of the policemen in the district were in the

camps, busy evicting the riot affected Muslims even as

the district administration continued to insist that the

police was deployed for the safety of the camps.

28

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