New Delhi: A fact finding team headed by retired Inspector General of Uttar Pradesh Police that visited Kasganj recently, on Monday claimed that the violence on and after January 26 in the area, was premeditated and orchestrated by communal forces. The team raised serious questions over the state police's integrity and its role. The activists also expressed concern at the silence of political parties at the incident.
The team, led by retired IPS officer SR Darapuri and consisting senior journalists Amit Sengupta, Hasanul Banna and Aleemullah Khan, activists Rakhi Sehgal, Banojyotsna Lahiri, Khalid Saifi, Mohit Pandey and others visited the Uttar Pradesh town where communal violence had erupted on January 26, and spoke with locals of both communities apart from local administration and police.
They underlined that amid the "biased" administration and "rabid" attempts by the Hindu right wing elements to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, the silver lining is that people from both communities are still feeling for each other and mourning each others' losses.
However, the Hindu neighbours are not willing to come out and identify the culprits, probably for fear of their own safety, the report pointed out.
The losses of property have been suffered only by the Muslims whose 27 shops were looted and set on fire by the mobs and the police avoided lodging their FIRs, the report said.
Raising serious questions over the state police's integrity and its role, not a single Hindu has been named in FIRs even as all reports said there were clashes in the town between both the communities.
Besides two mosques, the report highlighted that all 27 business establishments that were set on fire belonged to Muslims.
“No temple or Hindu property has been damaged,” it says.
“In fact, the Chamunda Temple, located in a Muslim-dominated area, was protected by Muslims of the area. There is an HP gas agency located behind the Chamunda Temple, and the Muslims protected that too,” the nine-page report says.
On the death of Chandan Gupta, the only person killed in the violence, the report underlined that police statements in media "are at odds with pictures of the deceased about the entry of the bullet".
"The wound is on the upper arm, not in the collar bone. The angle and location of the bullet wound are different," it said, adding that there is no certainty on at which place Gupta was shot and died or who shot him.
"No leader of any political party has reached out to the Muslim community, or the Hindu shopkeepers and locals, or tried to visit them and express solidarity even though messages were sent to them. There was no peace initiative by the political class...perhaps for fear of being labelled as minority appeasers," the activists said.