Jahangirpuri violence: President urged to immediately intervene to reverse the partiality of Delhi Police

New Delhi, 21 April 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: A fact-finding mission led by three Left-wing parties- the CPM, CPIML and the Forward Bloc- has concluded that violence in Jahangirpuri, northwest Delhi on April 16, was the result of an alleged Sangh parivar-affiliated group’s plan to manipulate religious festivals to incite communal strife.  The Left delegation concluded this after interacting with 50 households from both communities.

The Left parties have demanded that the home minister and the President intervene quickly to end the Delhi police’s biasness. Immediate action should be taken against the responsible police officers…. Any delay would simply serve to demonstrate the government’s dependability in such matters. The Delhi lieutenant governor should intervene right away, breaking his silence.”

The delegation said the violence, which occurred in an area not known for communal confrontations, be seen in the context of a sequence of previous episodes. The team also listed a number of attempts such as   restriction on the sale of non-vegetarian food announced by the mayor of south Delhi, a BJP official, an alleged ABVP attempt to enforce a vegetarian diet at JNU, and the murder of a farmhouse caretaker by cow vigilantes in the capital.

The highlights of the Left delegation’s fact-finding report are as follows:

* Residents told the visiting team that a group of 150 to 200 people, carrying arms, blaring loud music and raising slogans, had been roaming around in a procession (shobha yatra for Hanuman Jayanti) since the afternoon in Jahangirpuri. Bystanders said they saw pistols and swords being brandished by the marchers — in line with the content of video clips aired by some TV channels.

*The team was told that the procession had been organised not by people from the neighbourhood but by the Bajrang Dal, with most of the participants being from outside the area. On Sunday, several Hindu and Muslim residents too had told The Telegraph that most of the participants were “outsiders”.

*The delegation was informed that the procession had been accompanied by two police jeeps — one at the front and the other at the rear. However, each jeep had only two personnel. The fact-finding report asked why the police did not make adequate arrangements and allowed arms to be carried in the procession.

* The team was told that the procession had already made two rounds of Block C, where many residents are Bengali-speaking Muslims.

*It was during the third round of the procession (around 6pm) that trouble broke out. If there was a “conspiracy” by the Muslim residents to disrupt the procession as alleged by BJP leaders, the attacks would likely have taken place earlier. The incidents occurred when the procession stopped outside a mosque at the exact time when those observing roza (fast) during Ramazan were gathering at the mosque for prayers.

* The report asked several questions: why was the procession allowed to stop there? Why were slogans allowed to be raised just outside the mosque? In other words, the armed procession was given the licence to stop outside the mosque and shout slogans just when the faithful had gathered to pray. If there was a conspiracy, this was the conspiracy.

(CPM politburo member Brinda Karat on Monday wrote to Delhi police commissioner Rakesh Asthana, urging him to act against the police personnel who had allowed the procession to carry weapons, were responsible for the lack of adequate arrangements, permitted the procession to stop in front of the mosque, and were conducting a biased investigation.

(“Video evidence aired on several TV channels along with eyewitness reports to our fact-finding team are conclusive evidence that the procession taken out by members of the youth wing of the Bajrang Dal was armed with several men carrying naked swords, lathis and also, shockingly, firearms. These weapons were openly flaunted and brandished during the procession. The police have stated that the procession had police permission. Did the police give permission to carry arms?” Karat said in the letter.

(“From your statement to the media, it is unclear whether you have identified the persons in the processions who were carrying arms and, if so, whether they have been arrested under the relevant provisions of law, including the Arms Act,” Karat told Asthana.

(“It is also unclear from your statement whether there is any investigation into the role of the police. Who is accountable for allowing an armed procession to stop in front of a mosque shouting provocative and aggressive slogans at the exact time when the prayers to break the roza fast were scheduled to begin? Such deliberate acts of omission and commission by the police have directly resulted in the ensuing incidents.”)

* The Left team was told that stones were thrown from both sides. Fear had gripped the residents that the marchers would enter the mosque with the police not intervening. Some people who did not want to be named told the team that arms were later brought in by some members of the minority community. Later, the marchers were outnumbered and they fled.

* The delegation saw a few burnt cars and a burnt motorbike. A shop belonging to a Hindu had been looted. The delegation was informed the police had been caught between the two groups of stone throwers and some of them suffered injuries.

* At night on April 16 (Saturday), the police conducted raids and made indiscriminate arrests. When women tried to find out why their homes were being raided, male police personnel punched them in the stomach and beat them, the team was told.

* When the fact-finding team members went to Jahangirpuri police station on Sunday, they were surprised to find that Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupt and MP Hansraj Hans were addressing a media conference on the police station premises in the presence of police officials. Around them, people were shouting “Jai Sri Ram”. The Left delegation asked in the fact-finding report: Does this not clearly show the partiality of the police?

* The team found that there had never before been a communal clash in the area, where Hindus and Muslims have been living together for decades. The Bengali Muslims have been living in Jahangirpuri since the inception of this resettlement colony, at least four decades ago. The mostly self-employed residents are involved in street vending, petty trade, fish selling and waste collection. It is shocking, the report said, that the BJP should term them “illegal” or describe them as Rohingya refugees. They are bona fide citizens, the report said.

* The Left team found that residents across the neighbourhood lacked confidence in the police and believed the force was conducting a one-sided and prejudiced inquiry, influenced by BJP leaders. This is in sharp contrast with the BJP’s praise for the police.

The one-sided arrests of mainly members of the minority community, even though video evidence is available of the provocative behaviour and aggressive actions of the marchers, are unjust and motivated, the report said.

Meanwhile, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties also wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner Asthana, requesting that those seen in many films chanting sectarian slogans and wielding firearms and swords be prosecuted

According to the letter, a BJP leader went to Jahangirpuri on Sunday and shouted in front of the mosque, “Jisko desh mein rehna hoga ‘Jai Sri Ram’ kehna hoga.”

“This slogan is a threat to every Indian who does not comply to the said speaker’s instructions,”

* The Left delegation spoke to the additional DCP and informed him of the residents’ perception of bias, triggered by the indiscriminate detention of members of the Muslim community. The delegation also informed the police of the complaints of manhandling mentioned by the women.

*On the probe being transferred to the crime branch, the fact-finding report said it was an “eye wash and unacceptable”.

“A judicial inquiry with a time-bound mandate should be ordered to unravel the truth, which will no doubt bring to light the diabolical efforts being made by the Sangh parivar to disturb communal harmony in the capital,” the report said.