Communal Riots-2012.pdf - Indian Social Institute

ongoing trial. “It is clear that without going into the wider questions, even a plain reading of section 6 ofthe Commissions of Inquiry Act will prohibit the use of the previous statements at the trial either for thepurposes of cross examination to contradict the witness or to impeach his credit,” the court said. Theformer Outer Delhi MP had filed an application saying that CBI prosecutor R. S. Cheema on July 12,2010, had told the court that affidavits and statement of complainant and key witness Jagdish Kaur,recorded by G. T. Nanavati and Ranganath Mishra Commissions, cannot be used because ofcontradictions. The CBI had said as per the provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act, the affidavits andstatements of a witness given before any Commission cannot be used against her for the purpose ofquestioning her testimony. Sajjan Kumar, Balwan Khokkar, Kishan Khokkar, Mahender Yadav, GirdhariLal and Captain Bhagmal are facing trial in the killings of six people in Delhi Cantonment area during the1984 carnage which had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi onOctober 31, 1984. They are accused of instigating a mob to attack and kill the Sikhs. (The Hindu 2/6/12)After riots, Kosi Kalan simmering with tension, rumours (7)Mohammad Sarfaraz stood in front of his burned-down store almost reduced to tears as he spoke of thecommunal violence that tore apart his town on Friday, claiming four lives and destroying hundreds,including his own. “I had invested my life in this shop, which was turned into ashes,” the scrap dealer said.“I do not have a single penny to start my life again.” The store in front of Mr. Sarfaraz's business, alsoburned down, belonged to a Hindu — testimony to the close ties which bound together the life of Hindusand Muslims in Kosi Kalan. But two days after communal canards sparked Friday's murderous riots, freshrumours about imminent attacks and hidden massacres are continuing to sweep through this smallMathura-district town, raising fears of further violence. Local residents' accounts of the violence point todeep divisions between the town's religious communities. Baldev Chowk resident Kuldeep Singh, amember of the Gujjar community, accused the administration of playing a partisan role in the violence.“Had it not been for our brothers from the nearby villages whom we called to save us, we would havebeen dead by now.” He said a large number of people were mobilised from the nearby Jat-dominatedvillages after rumours were spread that seven girls belonging to one community had been raped bymembers of another community and that two of them had been killed. No factual basis exists for therumours, authorities say, and none has so far been put forward by any independent group. Members ofthe minority community also accused the administration of being a “mute spectator” of the violence. Localsocial activist Maqsood said the minority community was afraid and did not trust the local administration.Three of the four killed were Muslim, according to local authorities. District authorities relaxed curfew fortwo hours on Sunday, for the first time since it was imposed in the wake of the June 1 violence, whichclaimed four lives and left 25 injured —the first large communal riots in the town's recent history. Thebreak in curfew passed off peacefully. Mathura district magistrate Sanjay Kumar told The Hindu that“rumours had a tremendous role to play in aggravating the already communally charged situation.” Heclaimed the problem began with a petty fight on Friday afternoon, when a Hindu boy was slapped bysome local Muslims for washing his hands from the water drum kept outside the local mosque after heused a nearby urinal. The two communities were pacified after Senior Superintendent of Police DharamvirYadav reached the spot at 2 p.m. However, rumours about the supposedly-kidnapped girls soon led tomobilisation of mobs from the adjoining countryside. “The real problem started when we had to face alarge armed mob from outside the town. We did not have sufficient force to fight it. So we tried toconvince the mob that the rumour about cases of rape and murders of girls of the majority communitywere not true. But before we could do anything, the rioting mob had created havoc.” An official in theadministration said the riots were politically motivated with an eye on the coming Assembly by-electionand the local municipal elections. Police have made several arrests related to rioting, but there is still noclear account of precisely who spread the lethal rumours — and why Kosi Kalan's residents proved sowilling to believe them. (The Hindu 5/6/12)Former Minister, MLC booked for riots (7)Mathura, June 5, 2012: A former Uttar Pradesh Minister and his MLC brother were among 156 peoplebooked for the Kosi Kalan communal clashes, which claimed four lives. Choudhary Laxmi Narayan,Agriculture Minister in the previous BSP regime, and his brother Lekhraj Choudhary have been chargedwith armed assault, incitement to violence, loot, arson, attempt to murder and conspiracy. But Mr. Lekhrajsaid: “Normalcy cannot be restored by implicating innocents. It is surprising that I have been implicated,because I was attending the Assembly at the time of riots.” (The Hindu 6/6/12)Motorbike accident sparks communal riots in Mogulwada (7)VADODARA: Heated arguments between people from different communities after a minor vehicle