India Tomorrow
BHOPAL—Fear is palpable in Dorana village after members of the right wing groups went on rampage scribbling ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on Muslim homes.
More than 5,000 workers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) marched through the streets of Dorana village as police looked like mute spectators.
This comes days after members of the rightwing group climbed a mosque and unfurled a saffron flag on its minaret.
Sensing trouble, the villagers had earlier petitioned the Superintendent of Police (SP) and sought protection, citing social media campaign calling “Hindu brothers” to join the rally from Amlawad to Dorana village.
Another message allegedly urged people to teach the “descendants of Aurangzeb” a lesson for having stopped a Hindu rally from passing through Dorana.
On December 25, a rally was stopped from playing loud music outside the mosque in the village by locals. On Tuesday (December 29), some people climbed the same mosque and put up saffron flags. However, these flags were removed by police.
Superintendent of Police, Mandsaur district, Siddharth Chaudhary said the police immediately ordered those who had climbed on to the mosque to immediately get down. “There was no damage to the structure. No permission had been taken for the rally,” he said.
Of the 500 houses, around 82 Muslim families are living in Dorana village of Mandsaur. The village has a good presence of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers.
The situation took a violent turn at another fund-collection drive in Indore on Tuesday (Dec 29) when precisionists allegedly tried to damage a mosque and read the Hanuman Chalisa outside the premises.
Earlier, clashes have erupted during rallies organized by right-wing groups when they passed through Muslim-dominated localities. A flare-up in Begum Bagh locality in Ujjain on Dec 25 led to a stone-pelting by residents in response to the alleged use of abusive language by those in the rally.
The administration pulled down a two-storeyed house from which stones were allegedly pelted on the rallyists. Several vehicles belonging to Muslims were badly damaged by the rallyists, with police having failed to protect the Muslim properties. As many as 18 are reported to have been arrested, all Muslim, including one woman in Ujjain. Police are looking for two more women accused in the case.
On December 29, a communal flare-up and stone-pelting was reported in Chandankhedi (Gautampura) village, 26 kms from Indore.
Most of the rallies were taken out without permission and in violation of pandemic restrictions.
Warning the stone pelters, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the law will take its course against the miscreants, whoever they may be. “People creating a disturbance will be dealt with strictly. We have to ensure Madhya Pradesh remains an island of peace,” he said.
Police have arrested five persons and registered an offence against 58 others based on complaints by the villagers; another 30 in Indore, of which at least 27 are villagers. In Begum Bagh locality of Ujjain, 18 have been arrested. Ten of them have been slapped with the National Security Act.
Demolition of house in Ujjain is “illegal” and “act of a police state”: Ex-SC Judge
Earlier, former Supreme Court judge Deepak Gupta told a national newspaper that he manner in which a house was demolished in Begum Bagh, a Muslim-dominated locality in Ujjain, a day after a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha rally was pelted with stones in the area, is “absolutely illegal and an act of a police state”.
“This is a mockery of the rule of law. There is no power to the police to demolish structures like this,” Justice Gupta said.
On December 26, the house of Abdul Rafeeq was razed by the administration who came looking for suspects in the stone-pelting incident caught on video the previous day. Officially, the demolition was carried out as the structure was allegedly illegal. However, District Collector Asheesh Singh said the demolition drive was meant to hurt “criminals who resort to such acts of stone-pelting” economically.
