BJP raps UP Govt for security lapses; SC threatens to send its team for assessment
Scores of victims of communal clash in UP’s Muzaffarnagar once again took refuge at relief camps after fresh violence erupted in the region killing four persons on Wednesday. Fearing for their lives, the victims returned to the camps that they had left recently after normalcy seemed to return in the city.
On Thursday, the situation in Muzaffarnagar continued to be tense. Officials admitted that the killings had once again endangered the fragile peace in the region. The latest incident of stabbing and gunning down of a couple at Phugana in Shamli district late on Wednesday night fuelled the tension.
The refugees said they could not stay in their villages as they feared being targeted by rioters. Eyewitnesses said that a group of hooligans from the minority community attacked some farmers and injured them. In retaliation, scores of people community killed three persons aged between 14 and 20 years.
“We are being targeted by anti-social elements who want to create communal tension in the area. If the government does not make homes for us at safer place we will not leave the shelters,” said a victim living in a relief camp in Bassi-Kalan area. Presently there are 17 such shelters in the district.
After the violence, thousands of locals from neighbouring villages gathered in Muhammadpur Rai Singh village and started mobilising the villagers. They also created stir when police tried to take bodies into the possession. The situation came under control when senior officials, including IG, DIG, DM, SSP, reached the spot with police force.
Amid heavy deployment of police, the bodies were taken to an undisclosed location for post-mortem and later handed over to their families for funeral. CRPF and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel have also been deployed in the area. Eight persons have been arrested and cases have been registered against 15 people.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh DGP on Thursday admitted lapses on the part of police for fresh communal violence. “The kind of incident which happened on Wednesday can definitely be attributed to lapses on part of the police due to which some people dared to do this (violence). We will take strong action,” Devraj Nagar, State Director General of Police told reporters in lucknow.
On Thursday, several thousand members of the Muslim community held a panchayat in Hussainpur Kalan village and demanded compensation for the families of the deceased. The panchayat also demanded government jobs for the next of the kin of the deceased. Meanwhile, the BJP and the SP traded charges over the fresh violence.
lashing out at the UP Government over the fresh communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, the BJP said it would not have happened had the authorities taken severe and unbiased action against those responsible for last month’s riots.
“The trouble begins when such a sad and unfortunate incidents are politicised. If just and fair action was taken, then the violence would not have been repeated. UP government should understand this,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
But Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the Opposition parties saying that the Government would not allow such forces to disturb communal harmony. Speaking at a function to distribute laptops at KK Inter College sports campus here on Thursday, the Chief Minister said,
“We will deal firmly with communal forces trying to create disturbances.” He said Uttar Pradesh was known for its Ganga-Jamuni culture and the Samajwadi Party Government would ensure peace among the people.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Government’s attempt to project Wednesday’s violence in Muzaffarnagar as a stray incident and not a communal clash was met with skepticism from Supreme Court, which threatened to send an independent team to inspect and report on the situation.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam expressed concern over the fresh bout of violence in the district that claimed four lives. Following the communal clashes that took place in Muzaffarngar and surrounding districts last month which left 44 persons dead, the Bench was perturbed if the latest violence had re-ignited dormant passions among the two communities in the district.
But counsel for the UP Government denied the same. Appearing in a set of transfer petitions related to the Muzaffarnagar incident, the counsel said, “The latest violence is not of communal nature.”
The bench issued notice on all transfer petitions and posted it for hearing on November 21. The judges cautioned the state counsel to present the factual position with regard to the latest incident and on the status of relief camps. Giving time till November 21 for the state to respond, bench said, “If you are not giving a correct picture, we will be forced to send an independent team to inspect the situation and file a report.”