PUCL letter about Karauli violence on April 2.pdf

PUCL letter about Karauli violence on April 2.pdf

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PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL
LIBERTIES
Jaipur
8
th
April, 2022
Ms. Usha Sharma
Chief Secretary, GOR
Jaipur

Sh. Abhay Kumar Jain
Home Secretary,
GOR, Jaipur

Sh. ML Lather,
DG Police,
GOR, Jaipur

Subject: 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.
Sir,
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 2
nd
of April, 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

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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 Addl 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 this one 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.
https://thewire.in/communalism/watch-in-rajasthans-karauli-police-accused-of-
assaulting-muslim-minor 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.

Today 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, , they
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,
1. 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.
2. 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

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psychological and mental violence. These police officials need to be removed
from their posts.
3. The police should also be made an accused in the FIR lodged on the 2
nd
April,
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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Since the next ten days have several religious festivals, the Ram Navmi is on the 10
th

of April and the Hanuman Jayanti is on the 16
th
of April, 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.
8. 14
th
April, 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.

We are,

Kavita Srivastava (President)
Anant Bhatnagar (General Secretary)





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