By Nazia Khaleeque, MuslimMirror.com
Till May 2017, 296 communal violence incidents with 44 deaths were recorded across India — nearly two incidents per day, according to data released by the Home Ministry in Parliament. Of this, UP state has reported 60 incidents, and 16 people have been killed and over 150 injured alone in this year. By following such communal hatred since 2014 with 133, 115 in 2015 and 162 cases in 2016, it has been occupied a top position in the hit list of communal violence. After to this state the Indian Express has reported that Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal are the other following states that topped in the list.
Even the government’s own data reveals that the incidents of communal violence went up by 41 per cent across India during the past three years of its rule and the BJP-ruled in UP, Maharashtra and MP. According to the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs said 336 cases relating to offences promoting enmity between different groups on the bases of religion, race, and place of birth were registered in 2014, which shot up to 475 in 2016, an increase by over 41 per cent. But a closer analysis shows a sizeable jump in such communal cases in UP state in 2016, due to the assembly election year of 2017.
Below is a brief empirical data of the major communal violence incidents of 2017, which are as follows.
- Alampur(Kolkata)-Bengal, 23 January 2017 (Hindustan Times, January 29, 2017)
Alampur, a locality on the Western edge of Kolkata’s Metiabruz area, continues to be communal tense since January 23 after some chunks of alleged beef were thrown into a temple. Administration has imposed prohibitory orders and disallowing assembly of four or more people in the area that has a mix of slums and high rises. The prohibitory orders also banned workshops after Hindus groups blocked traffic following the alleged desecration of the two temples. Muslims are in majority in the area which also houses a government undertaking – Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers.
But, what makes Alampur incident alarming is that it is not a stray incident. There has been a pattern. Ten districts of West Bengal have seen similar such communal incidents since October 2016 which is proving to be a major challenge for the state law & order.
To keeping this high tension Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I will not allow anarchy in Bengal,” She further said, “Police is dealing with such things with a strong hand. We will soon bring a strong legislation against arson, where anyone setting fire to government or private party will have to pay. One political party is trying to fan violence,” she said, without naming the BJP.
In this reply, Sayantan Basu, the state BJP secretary said, “attacks on Hindus are going on in different parts of the state. Metiabruz incident is the latest in the series and the administration has failed to control them.”
Whereas the Congress and the Left parties have also claimed that the situation was “getting dangerous” in Bengal. “Trinamool Congress brought in communal politics in Bengal by appeasing communities for political gains. Now things are going out of control,” said Abdul Mannan, Congress MLA and leader of the opposition in the Assembly.
- Surat-Gujarat, 30 January 2017 (The Times of India, January 30, 2017)
Partially putrid head of a calf in Godadara locality of Limbayat, Surat created communal tension. A road side butcher shop was burned by rioters and stones were pelted on shops and police teams. At least 40 tear-gas shells were lobbed by police to control the rioters.
Earlier, local residents including some individuals belonging to notorious saffron groups carried the calf head attached till ribcage in a cart and roamed around the area. They also staged a dharna claiming that the calf was killed by butchers and the head was thrown in a public place to insult sentiments of other community.
However, police sources informed that the calf head was not chopped by butchers since it was attached to ribcage. Police suspect that the calf dead body could have been thrown by some cattle breeder after it died. It could have been dragged up to the road by dogs.
- Bijnor-UP, 11 February 2017 (The Hindustan Times, February 12, 2017)
Communal tension was flagrant in Bijnor on Saturday after a 16-year-old boy was killed and his father critically injured in Nayagaon village of the same district on Friday. Some unidentified people stabbed a farmer Sanjay and his 16-year-old son Vishal at Nayagaon when the farmer had gone to irrigate his field. On the other hand the district goes to poll in the second phase of the UP assembly election on February 15. The accused were Muslims. The Union Minister and BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan has endangered to stage an indefinite sit-in if the accused are not arrested within 24 hours. Other leaders and workers of political parties staged a sit-in with the villagers and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. Angry villagers damaged Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate Rahul Singh’s village when he went to the village show his solidarity with them. However, the situation soon controlled by the administration.
- Patan-Gujarat, 26 March 2017 (NDTV, March 26, 2017)
The communal violence started following an insignificant fight between two students of different communities, an official of Chanasana police station said. Soon the conflict escalated and the members of the two communities attacked each other with sticks, iron rods and other weapons. Police fired seven rounds in the air and lobbed tear gas shells to scatter the mob whose burned vehicles and some houses. One person was killed in the clash several and others injured persons have been admitted to a hospital, police said. Tight security is in place to avoid any further problem.
- Bhadrak-Odhisha, 7 April, 2017 (The Indian Express, April 8 & 12, 2017)
The communal violence has erupted in the Bhadrak town over an offensive statement by a Muslim youth on social media site i.e. Facebook. The riot was set off after Muslim youths on April 5, has purportedly posted vulgar comments on Ramnavami. The following day, Hindus led by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad gathered around the town police station and demanding the arrest of the BJD MLA was called, but it ended in failure.
Even as prohibitory orders were in force, over 200 bike-borne Muslim youths allegedly went on a storm, targeting shops owned by Marwari and Hindu traders which lined the arterial roads. Vengeance followed with the burning down of shops owned by Muslim traders. Hundreds of shops were set on fire and roads were blocked.
On the other hand the local administration failed to arrest the law
& order breakers which were boiling between the two opposite communities. With the situation abating, the state government imposed curfew in the town. Four companies of central paramilitary force (CRPF) apart from 35 platoons of the state police spread through the town, keeping an eye on agitators. Five days later, with over 100 arrests and 8 cases, the police are back in control of the situation.
- Ranchi–Jharkhand, 11 April 2017 (Hindustan Times, April 11, 2017)
Tension has erupted in Ranchi on Tuesday when two groups of Hindus and Muslims bombarded stones at each other, on a devotional song with purportedly objectionable lyrics in the afternoon. But the administration of Ranchi soon invoked prohibitory orders and maintained a heavy security on the streets to rescue the communal tension. Due to this instant action of administration, there was no found any damage to life or property in the clash.
But the past couple of the years the communal incidents have been on the rise in Jharkhand and challenging the government’s project of maintaining peace during in all festivals. In April last year, a curfew was imposed in Hazaribagh after communal clashes during Ramnavami. Jharkhand also boiled with tension in October 2015 as communal clashes in four districts- Hazaribagh, Bokaro, Daltonganj and Latehar left one person dead and several others injured.
- Saharanpur-UP, 20 April 2017 (The Hindu, April 21, 2017)
Saharanpur in UP witnessed a communal clashes on Thursday after the BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal and other party leaders took out the “Ambedkar shobha yatra,” allegedly without police permission, through the communally sensitive parts of the city.
Actually Sadak Dudhli village, on the outskirts of Saharanpur, has a mixed population of Muslims and Dalits and no procession had been taken out here since seven years. The Hindu groups, in rampage and attacked the house of the Senior Superintendent of Police. The violent crowd allegedly broke CCTV cameras and furniture and set public properties on fire. The western UP town has been turned into a fortress with huge police deployment.
Though the situation is under control, rumour mills have ensured that the region remains tense. Here communal politics has seems very clearly as Mr. Lakhanpal and BJP leaders have threatened that they would take the “shobha yatra” through Sadak Dudhli on April 23. The MP said “he would not allow Saharanpur to become Kashmir,” a comparison which provoked strong condemnation from SP leaders like Sudhir Panwar and Dalit activists like Satish Prakash. Mr. Prakash condemned the BJP’s attempt to “misuse Ambedkar’s name to communally polarise the region.”
- Saharanpur-UP, 5-30 May 2017 (Hindustan Times, May 30, 2017)
The communal tension has been going on in this district since April. On May 5, a Dalit group had objected to a procession of Thakurs in Shabbirpur to mark the birth anniversary of Rajput king Maharana Pratap, triggering violence, in which one person was killed and over 15 were injured.
The district has once again comes into grip of the communal violence when Thakur community and Dalits at three different places on Tuesday have clashed to each others. A senior police officer said one person has died and 20 were injured in clashes in Chandrapur, Shabbirpur and Badagon villages.
A senior police officer said one person has died and 20 were injured in clashes in Chandrapur, Shabbirpur and Badagon villages. A PTI report quoted superintendent of police (city) Prabal Pratap as saying that “some unidentified persons set fire to at least 12 houses of Thakurs in Shabbirpur village ahead of the arrival of Mayawati.” District magistrate NP Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Subhash Chandra Dubey rushed to the scene and pacified members of the Thakur community. After Mayawati wrapped up her visit to the village, a sword-wielding mob attacked a vehicle of some BSP supporters, who had come from Sarsawa to attend the event. Police sources said the attackers allegedly fired their guns and wielded batons, killing Ashish (24) on the spot.
- Banswara -Rajasthan, 12 May 2017 (Hindustan Times, May12, 2017)
According to sources, the groups have been at loggerheads over a disputed religious site in Kalika Mata area. According to the Banswara collector Bhagwati Prasad report, two vehicles were set on fired and three persons were injured in the incident. He also said the two groups clashed with each other when a Shab-e-Baraat (a Muslim festival) procession was passing by the localities around 11pm on Thursday.
The curfew was imposed immediately in Kalika Mata, Gorakh Imli, Khatwara and Pathri Ganj areas falling under Kotwali police station following stone pelting between two groups. The district administration has imposed section 144 of CRPC to avoid any annoying incident further.
- Rampur(Himachal Pradesh), 14 May 2017 (The Tribune, May 15, 2017)
The communal conflict gripped in Rampur, the home town of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, as Hindu organisations, under the banner of the Dev Sanskrit Raksha Manch, opposed offering of prayers by members of the Christian community in the local government school and asked an American priest, Mark Anderson, to go back.
The protesters also tore posters of the priest and suspected that the missionaries were indulging in conversions under the attire of prayers. However, Pester Kamlesh Negi said they had taken permission for the congregation and denied any attempt of conversion. They said they were only working as a “link between devotees and God.”
- Parganas-West Bengal, 4 July 2017 (Times of India, July 4, 2017 & Hindustan Times, July 16, 2017)
Communal violence broke out in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal over an “objectionable” post on Facebook, prompting the Centre to rush 300 paramilitary personnel. Angry Muslim mobs set fired to shops and houses belonging to Hindus in Baduria, Swarupnagar and Taki blocks of the district bordering Bangladesh. The car of the additional police Superintendent of the district was also attacked.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said, in Kolkata that the clashes between members of two communities have broken out in Baduria in Basirhat sub-division of the district over the “objectionable” post. On the communal violence, she warned leaders of both communities that “I won’t spare anybody fuelling communal clashes”. “BJP may provoke, but why will you walk into the trap? Those who have destroyed government property will have to pay for it.” She also said that “Don’t see their colour or political affiliation. If anybody dares to foment communal trouble, give him a sound thrashing.”
While the state BJP secretary Sayantan Basu said there was a total collapse of law and order in Baduria, and called for the immediate deployment of central to protect Hindus there.
On Tuesday afternoon, police prevented BJP state general secretary Debashri Chowdhury from reaching the spot. In protest, BJP workers started a roadblock at the district headquarters Barasat.
- Tissa (Chamba)-Himachal Pradesh, 30 July 2017 (The Times of India, August 1, 2017)
Rape of a minor girl by a school teacher has lead to communal tension in Tissa area of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh. As the girl belongs to the minority community, agitated members of her community on Saturday attacked the teachers after which members of another community on Sunday protested at Bhanjraru. On Monday, there were protested once again even stones were pelted in which three policemen including Additional SP of Chamba were also injured while in turn police took to cane-charge and also fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob.
The violence in the school was followed by three days of retaliatory violence in Tissa, where a number of shops were destroyed, purportedly selectively. The Congress has alleged the attackers were the RSS and the VHP men, while the BJP says they were common citizens.
- Ramganj(Jiapur)-Rajasthan, 8 September 2017 (The Tribune, September 9, 2017)
A petty dispute between a police constable and a motorcycle-borne couple late last night led to conflict between the locals and the police, following which the curfew was imposed around 1 am in Ramganj area, where the violence broke out.
It is alleged that the constable had assaulted the couple over some issue, following which a mob of locals gathered around the Ramganj police station and indulged in arson, setting ablaze five vehicles, including an ambulance and a police jeep, and damaged 21 others. In the conflict one person was also killed and 20 others, including eight policemen were injured.
- Varanasi-UP, 9 September 2017 (Times of India, September 10, 2017)
Alleged raising of pro-Pakistan and anti-India sloganeering in mixed populated Dhaurahra village following return of some Haj pilgrims had led to communal tension on Saturday. A youth, who displayed anti-Muslim posters that had a content to provoke communal hatred, has been identified, said SSP RK Bhardwaj, adding that he would be arrested very soon.
- Khowai- Tripura, 22 September, 2017 (Times of India, September 23, 2017)
The state’s West Tripura and Khowai districts remained communal tense on Friday, two days after Bengali journalist Shantanu Bhowmick was allegedly killed by tribal activists of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura. Actually tension prevailed since 19 September, when violence has erupted between the IPFT and the CPM at Shonkhola. The tension left at least five security personnel, including two police officials and TSR soldier, injured. As many as 23 policemen have been injured so far in violence in the two districts of Khowai and West Tripura in the past four days. At least 20 police vehicles have been burned and several political party offices i.e., the CPM and the BJP have been set on fire also.
- Nawada-Bihar, 27 September 2017 (Hindustan Times, September 28, 2017)
The communal tension hold on Akbarpur police station area of Nawada district, 116 km south of Patna, when an idol of Goddess Durga was damaged in stone pelting by a group of anti-social elements on Wednesday night. Police said the incident took place around 9 pm when some people were taking the idol to a pandal at Baliya village. As soon as they reached near the New York building at Akbarpur, a group of people pelted stones at them, objecting to the loud music being played on the public address system fitted to the cart carrying the idol, the police said. In the ensuing clash, the idol of Goddess Durga was damaged, the police said.
The idol had since been repaired and kept at the Akbarpur block office, the police said, adding that the officials were trying to send the idol to Baliya, but the villagers there had refused to worship “a desecrated idol”.
In another incident, unidentified persons set on fire a Tazia in Warsaliganj police station area.
Immediately anti-riot Rapid Action Force have been deployed in the communal areas of Akbarpur and Warisaliganj police station and suspended internet services in Nawada to prevent spread of any further inflammatory message on social media.
Police have registered separate cases for annoying communal violence and hurting religious emotions under relevant sections of the Indian penal code.
- Ballia-UP, 30 September, 2017 (The Hindu, October 1, 2017)
The communal clash occurred on Saturday evening at a Durga Puja festive fair when a minor wrangle between two children, took a dreadful situation after their parents and members of the two communities got involved in communal manner. Nearly half-a-dozen people were injured. Police and provincial armed constabulary (PAC) personnel were immediately deployed at the conflict area and the situation was quickly brought under control.
- Kanpur-UP, 1 October 2017 (Hindustan Times, October 1, 2017)
Communal clashes at two places in Kanpur left nearly thirty people injured, including five policemen, injured while nearly ten vehicles and four shops were either set afire or looted. The trouble began when a Tazia procession took a different way instead of the allowed one.
It was believed to take a U-turn from Jhandewala crossing but went straight through a pocket where another procession for Hindu goddess Durga’s idol fascination was being taken. The situation flared quickly and the two sides clashed, pelting stones at each other has started. Antisocial elements set on fired a police vehicle, plundered a police outpost and shops and set afire five two-wheelers in the area.
The administration has instantly come into active position and the police fired tear gas shells to scatter the violent mob but were attacked back with stones and bricks, leaving them injured.
In another place Rawatpur, the organisers of Ram Baraat declined to permit the Tazia procession on Saturday night. As the issue was being determined on Sunday morning, bricks were thrown from a temple on police teams involved in negotiations. Police then resorted to stick charge on the crowd. The administrator admitted to firing in the air at both the places to control the cruel situation and employed extra police force, including two companies Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and one company Rapid Action Force (RAF), till the situation was under control.
- Kusaldeh & Kaushambi -UP, 1 October, 2017 (The Hindu, October 1, 2017)
A 15-year-old boy was electrocuted and four others injured when a ‘tazia’ touched a high-tension wire in Kusaldeh village in Manikpur area here during a Muharram procession on Sunday. In Kaushambi district, seven persons continued burns when a ‘tazia’ touched a high-tension wire in Manjhanpur area also. In both the places situation got communally tensed, but soon situation has controlled by the administration.
- Jamui-Bihar, 1 October, 2017 (Times of India, October 2, 2017)
Communal tension has prevailed in Jamui town after a nine-year-old boy was injured in stone pelting during an idol fascination procession on Saturday. After the boy was injured, members of the Hindu community hit backed with an attack on a Muharram procession on next day. Jamui’s Sub-Divisional Police Officer Nisar Ahmed said that some people were pelting stones at those taking out the idol immersion procession from the terraces of some houses. Additional forces were immediately deployed to bring the situation under control, and the administration put both the processions on hold.
Actually, the clash has started when some anti-social elements pelted those participating in two idol immersion processions with stones in Khaira Mor and Masaurhi Chowk areas of the town on Saturday. The stones were being pelted from terraces of some houses. A nine-year-old boy was injured in stone pelting at Khaira Mor. However, adding Sashastra Seema Bal and Special Task Force personnel have been deployed in the town to keep away from any annoying confrontation.
- Baruraj (Muzaffarpur)-UP, 1 October 2017 (Times of India, October 2, 2017)
In another incident, a Muharram procession was allegedly attacked at Baruraj in Muzaffarpur district on Sunday. The SHO of Baruraj police station Pramod Kumar said members of the minority community were pelted with stones. “Security has been tightened in the area in view of the clash,” he added.
- Rishikesh(Haridwar)-Uttrakhand, 6 October 2017 (Times of India, October 1, 2017)
Communal tension has erupted in the Raiwala area of Rishikesh when the body of Lakshman Singh was found on railway tracks, shops run by people of a minority community were vandalised by an alleged right-wing group in the Kankhal area of Haridwar on Friday evening. It was alleged that Singh was involved in a relationship with the daughter of his employer, a poultry farm owner, Islam Ahmed. Ahmed and his son Salman were arrested by police on Thursday although agitated locals were not satisfied and created a commotion in the Raiwala bazar by throwing stones and damaging vehicles.
Krishna Kumar VK the SSP of Haridwar, said, “Some troublemaker had vandalised a few shops but the situation is an under control. We have registered a FIR and strict action will be taken against mischief-makers also.”
- Harduaganj (Aligarh)-UP, 23 October 2017 (Times of India, October 23, 2017)
Tension has started in Harduaganj area of Aligarh when after two families from different communities clashed to each other and pelted stones to each other and also opened fire following an argument at a barbershop over who would get a shave first only. However, soon the situation is comes under control and both the families have been cautioned.
- Azamgarh-UP, 24 November 2017 (Amar Ujala, November 25, 2017)
In one of the village of Azamgarh communal tension took place on the pity issue of children’s among fight. Suddenly peoples from both the community have started pelted stones to each other and have also started open air gun fire. Three peoples got injured in whole conflict. However, immediately police have arrived at the situation and controlled it with the deployment of heavy police force.
- Aligarh-UP, 26 November 2017 (The Pioneer, November 28, 2017)
An hour after voting for Urban Local Bodies ended on Sunday evening, Aligarh was gripped by communal tension after a local Rastriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) functionary’s brother was sprayed with bullets in the crowded Banna Devi locality.
As per reports, said that RSS leader Indrahas Chauhan’s Brother Shashi Chauhan was sitting at his friend’s house in Nai Basti locality of Banni Devi, when some motorcycle borne miscreants reached there and opened indiscriminate firing targeting Shashi and later fled the scene. The victim was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced him dead upon arrival. Shashi is also a close relative of former minister Thakur Jaiveer Singh.
News of Shashi being peppered with bullets spread like wild fire and within no time, hundreds of RSS and BJP leaders and workers converged at the scene and started a dramatic huge protest.
However, senior officers rushed to the communal spot and had a tough time controlling the anger of locals agitated with the killing. Later a case was registered against two persons and the top officers somehow defused the situation by assuring to arrest the culprits at earliest.
- Honnavar (Uttara Kannada)-Karnataka, 6 December 2017 (The Times of India, December 8, 2017)
Communal riots broke out in Honnavar town, about 75km from Karwar. Several people were injured as rampaging mobs attacked each other with sticks, pelted stones on rivals community and also houses and commercial establishments in town.
A minor accident between an auto rickshaw and a motor bike belonging to persons of different communities led to the violence. The mob attacked tempos and auto rickshaws parked near the bus stand, and pelted stones on about 15 tempos and damaged them. The rumour was also circulated that one of the injured persons had died, which added fuel to the fire more. After this, a mob belonging to the other community took to the streets and attacked houses and shops. Groups attacked each other with rods, sticks and stones.
Police were outnumbered as a majority of the police force had been sent to Karwar on duty. The Hindu organizations gave a “bandh” call on Thursday, alleging that only people belonging to their community had been arrested. All shops and business establishments remained closed. The organizations threatened to continue the “bandh” indefinitely if the arrested Hindu youths were not released. More than 30 people including about 15 police were injured in the whole incident.
- Belagavi- Karnataka, 18 December 2017 (The New Indian Express, December 20, 2017)
Tension prevailed in around the city after a group of troublemaker started pelting stones in an alleged attempt to create communal conflict, in Belagavi. Police rounded up 23 accused in relation to the violence.
According to eye witnesses at about 10.50 pm, a group of troublemaker started pelting stones at Khadak Galli and its adjoining area. A car and three two-wheelers were also burnt during the violence. Several people including three police personnel were injured and several vehicles were damaged in the whole incident. Rioters in groups also attacked few local houses and assaulted families.
At the very intimation, police rushed to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control. However, as it was purportedly a pre-planned attack, they faced a tough situation in handling the violence.
***
Nazia Khaleeque is a research scholar, department of political science at Aligarh Muslim University.