Rajasthan cops 'misbehave' with hijab-wearing journalist returning from riot spot Karauli

Counterview Desk
The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in a statement, has urged the Rajasthan government of Congress to take immediate disciplinary action be taken against a section of the Karauli district administration and police, regarding their crimes of omission and commission during the recent Karauli riot and the aftermath.
A letter signed by Kavita Srivastava, PUCL president, and Anant Bhatnagar, PUCL general secretary, addressed to the State chief secretary Usha Sharma, with copies to home secretary Abhay Kumar Jain and ML Lather, DG Police, says that the riot was provoked by a Hindutva group, shouting abusive slogans, leading to stone pelting and burning of shops, wondering why was permission granted for the rally.

Text:

Shocking stories from Karauli are being continuously shared by journalists and the affected people regarding the crimes of omission and commission by the administration and the police in the context of the communal riots in Karauli which took place on the April 2, 2022.
We are glad that no human life was lost, however, the riot provoked by the rally of the Hindutva group, shouting abusive slogans, leading to stone pelting and then burning of shops, has further filled with hate and mistrust the warp and weft of the society which historically believed in coexistence.
This city has had brickbats between the two communities in the past, but never this kind of a riot, even when the neighbourhood of Hindon and Gangapur city were burning with communal rage in the past.
The people of the State would like to know the following:
1. Why was permission granted for the rally of the Hindutva lot, it was being led by the Bipin Behari Shukla whose affiliations to the RSS are well known, to go through the Hatwara area, where Muslims are in domination? The SDM, ADM and District Collector who must have granted permission, need to be made accountable for this irresponsible decision. It is important to know, under whose pressure did they agree to the route that the rallyists wanted to take.
2. Why was the motorcycle rally of more than 700 motorcyclists with more than one pillion rider, without helmets, carrying big bamboo sticks, shouting hate slogans like, topi wala bhi sar jhuka ke bolega, Jai shri ram, Jai Shri Ram with a DJ playing on high decibel the same slogans, to coincide with Asr namaz at 5.00 to 5.30 pm, allowed to get into the street where Muslims reside. Why were they not stopped when the police and the SDM must have realised that the purpose of the rally is to only verbally abuse and humiliate Muslims?
3. Why was the police almost absent from the area? Videos clearly show that there was no police bandobast and hardly ten policemen are seen. No policemen are posted on terraces, to keep a watchful eye on what was happening around them. This kind of criminal negligence for allowing a rally where people were in a frenzied state, going through the Muslim dominated area, with no senior policemen. Neither the SP nor the Additional SP are seen walking with the rally when it entered the Muslim dominated area, How could they have left it to a Dy SP. Should not the SP and additional SP be made accountable for being so irresponsible?

4. Why was the police a silent bystander when the hate rally was proceeding, or when the stone pelting was carried out by a section of Muslims in the Hatwara area and again silently watching when the Hindu rallyists on their way back from the Hatwara burnt shops of Muslims and Hindus near Phuta Kot?
5. Why was the police allowed to pick up young Muslim men and beat them up, torture them? See the story that the wire.in has published where a 17-year-old minor was beaten up brutally by the police and being forced to say Jai Shri Ram. Strict action needs to be taken against these policemen who indulged in torture. The young men who were tortured need to be given medical treatment.
It was brought to the notice of the PUCL, that Ghazala Ahmad, journalist with the digital news organisation 'The Cognate' and Ahmed Kasim, journalist with 'The Clarion India' when returning, after completing their assignment from Karauli town of Rajasthan at 12 noon, were stopped at several spots by cops and later at Ganesh Gate, the Kotwali ASI Nanua Singh manhandled them. Kasim was even pushed by one of the cops and kept heckling him.

They waited for more than an hour before they were allowed to make their way out of the city. It was obvious that the police misbehaved with Qasim and Gazala as they were Muslims and the latter was wearing a hijab.

The PUCL demands:

Urgent disciplinary action against the DM, ADM and SDM for irresponsibly granting permission to the Hindutva rally, with abusive slogans and DJs. They should be removed immediately from the positions they hold in Karauli district.
Urgent disciplinary action should also be initiated against the senior policemen, the SP and Addl SP to have not stopped the rally when its intention was clear that they wanted to humiliate the Muslims in their own Mohalla. Is this not psychological and mental violence. These police officials need to be removed from their posts.
The police should also be made an accused in the FIR lodged on April 2, where there was hate violence and stone pelting resulting in injuries, with one Amit Sharma in a serious condition in hospital in SMS hospital in Jaipur.
Immediate arrests of the rallyists who led the hate rally, indulged in burning of shops and those who pelted stones and damaged vehicles and the DJ and other properties.
An FIR must be lodged against police officials immediately who indulged in the torture of the minor Muslim boy. Persecution of Muslims should be stopped immediately.
The communal nature of the police must undergo a change. According to the CSDS and Common Cause Status of policing in India report of 2019, One in two police personnel feels that Muslims are likely to be “naturally prone” towards committing crimes, this needs to be dealt with and changed.
Since the next few days have several religious festivals, the Ram Navmi is on April 10 and the Hanuman Jayanti is on April 16, once again the Hindutva groups will demand that they be allowed to organise rallies through Muslim areas, this should be disallowed. No permission should be given of a rally which shouts abusive slogans against another community. The police bandobast should be well organised with armed reinforcements be provided in advance, if these rallies are to be permitted.
April 14, 2022 Ambedkar Jayanti should be celebrated all over the State with an objective of building an inclusive society with all the socially vulnerable and discriminated sections including the SC & ST, Minorities, OBCs, DNT & NTS, LGBTQ!A treated as equals as envisaged by our Indian constitution.

Comments

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

How lead petitioner was rendered homeless when GM mustard matter came up in SC

By Rosamma Thomas* On January 5, 2023, the Supreme Court stayed a December 20, 2022 direction of the Uttarakhand High Court to the Indian Railways and the district administration of Haldwani to use paramilitary forces to evict thousands of poor families occupying land that belonged to the railways. Justice AS Oka remarked that it was not right to order the bringing in of paramilitary forces. The SC held that even those who had no rights, but were living there for years, needed to be rehabilitated. On December 21, 2022, just as she was getting ready to celebrate Christmas, researcher Aruna Rodrigues was abruptly evicted from her home in Mhow Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh – no eviction notice was served, and nearly 30 Indian Army soldiers bearing arms were part of the eviction process. What is noteworthy in this case is that the records establishing possession of the house date back to 1892 – the title deed with the name of Dr VP Cardoza, Rodrigues’ great grandfather, is dated November 14

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Tax buoyancy claims when less than 4% Indian dollar millionaires pay income tax

By Prasanna Mohanty In FY18, the last year for which disaggregated income tax data is available, only 29,002 ITRs declared income above Rs 5 crore, while Credit Suisse said India had 7.25 lakh dollar millionaires (the wealth equivalent of Rs 8 crore and above) that year. Often enough, the Centre claims that demonetization in 2016 raised tax collections, improved tax efficiency, and expanded the tax base. Now RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal has also joined their ranks, attributing the “claims” of rising tax collections in the current fiscal year to “tax buoyancy” brought by the demonetisation . Do such claims have any basis in official records? The answer is unequivocal. The budget documents show the tax-to-GDP ratio (direct plus indirect tax) increased from 10.6% in FY16 (pre-demonetization) to 11.2% in FY17, remained there in FY18 (demonetization and GST fiscals), and then fell to 9.9% in FY20. In FY22, it improved to 10.8% and is estimated to drop to 10.7% in

Gandhian unease at Mahadev Desai book launch: Sabarmati Ashram may lose free space

By Rajiv Shah A simmering apprehension has gripped the Gandhians who continue to be trustees of the Sabarmati Ashram: the “limited freedom” to express one’s views under the Modi dispensation still available at the place which Mahatma Gandhi made his home from 1917 to 1930 may soon be taken away. Also known as Harijan Ashram, a meeting held for introducing yet-to-be-released book, “Mahadev Desai: Mahatma Gandhi's Frontline Reporter”, saw speaker and after speaker point towards “narrowing space” in Gujarat for Gandhians (as also others) to express themselves. Penned by veteran journalist Nachiketa Desai, grandson of Mahadev Desai, while the book was planned to be released on January 1 and the meeting saw several prominent personalities, including actor-director Nandita Das, her scholar-mother Varsha Das, British House of Lords member Bhikhu Parekh, among others, speak glowingly about the effort put in for bringing out the book, exchanges between speakers suggested it should be rele

Why no information with Assam state agency about female rhino poaching for a year?

By Nava Thakuria According to official claims, incidents of poaching related to rhinoceros in various forest reserves of Assam in northeast India have decreased drastically. Brutal laws against the poachers, strengthening of ground staff inside the protected forest areas and increasing public awareness in the fringe localities of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the State are the reasons cited for positively impacting the mission to save the one-horned rhinos. Officials records suggest, only two rhinos were poached in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve since 1 January 2021 till date. The last incident took place probably in the last week of December 2021, as a decomposed carcass of a fully-grown (around 30 years old) female rhino was recovered inside the world-famous forest reserve next month. As the precious horn was missing, for which the gigantic animal was apparently hunted down, it could not be a natural death. Ironically, however, it was not confirmed when

Civil rights leaders allege corporate loot of resources, suppression of democratic rights

By Our Representative Civil rights activists have alleged, quoting top intelligence officers as also multiple international forensic reports, that recent developments with regard to the Bhima Koregaon and the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NRC) cases suggest, there was "no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and the Bhima Koregaon violence." Activists of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) told a media event at the HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, that, despite this, several political prisoners continue to be behind bars on being accused under the anti-terror the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Addressed by family members of the political prisoners, academics, as well as social activists, it was highlighted how cases were sought to be fabricated against progressive individuals, democratic activists and intellectuals, who spoke out against "corporate loot of Indian resources, suppression of basic democratic

Kerala natural rubber producers 'squeezed', attend to their plight: Govt of India told

By Rosamma Thomas Babu Joseph, general secretary of the National Federation of Rubber Producers Societies (NFRPS) at a recent discussion at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, explained that it is high time the Union government paid greater heed to the troubles plaguing the rubber production sector in India – rubber is a strategic product, important for the military establishment and for industry, since natural rubber is still used in the manufacture of tyres for large vehicles and aeroplanes. Synthetic rubber is now quite widespread, but styrene, which is used in making synthetic rubber and plastics, and also butadiene, another major constituent of synthetic rubber, are both hazardous. Prolonged exposure to these even in recycled rubber can cause neurological damage. Kerala produces the bulk of India’s natural rubber. In 2019-20, Kerala’s share in the national production of rubber was over 74%. Over 20% of the gross cropped area in the state is under rubber cultivation, with total

Bangladesh 'rights violations': US softens stance, fears increased clout of China, India

By Tilottama Rani Charulata* In December 2021, in addition to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the United States imposed sanctions on seven former and current officers of the force, alleging serious human rights violations. Benazir Ahmed and former RAB-7 commander Miftah Uddin Ahmed were banned from entering the US. RAB as an institution was also canceled the support it was getting from the US and its allies. At the same time, those under the ban have been notified of confiscation of assets held abroad. The anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police, RAB is the elite force consisting of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Border Guard Bangladesh, Bangladesh Civil Service and Bangladesh Ansar, and has been criticized by rights groups for its use of extrajudicial killings and is accused of forced disappearances. The government of Bangladesh has been insisting about lifting the ban on RAB, but the US had till recen

Counterview

Search This Blog