Bhopal:
Top bureaucrats of the Madhya Pradesh Government have assured
residents of village Ajnas in Khategaon tehsil of Dewas District
of the state, who became victims of communal violence in May last,
to mete out justice to them and punish the guilty after a thorough
enquiry.
The delegation of the residents, which was led by Social
Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), Madhya Pradesh Unit president
Adv. Sajid Siddiqui, called on the state Chief Secretary Avani
Vaish, Home Secretary Alok Ranjan and state Human Rights
Commission member Vijay Shukla and submitted a memorandum here on
Wednesday. The memorandum while demanding CID inquiry into the
incident urged to withdraw cases registered under Section 307 IPC
against the riot victims and their economic rehabilitation. The
memorandum enlisted their woes and the details of the incident
which occurred on May 28 last wherein a mob of about 150-200
people attacked Raees Khan and his family at his residence and
injured them seriously while ransacking the house.
According to Adv. Siddiqui Chief Secretary Vaish has marked the
memorandum to Ujjain Commissioner for inquiry in the case and
report back at the earliest. The Home Secretary taking serious
note of the grievances of the victims of the violence assured them
to look into the incident and report back by July 23 as to what
action has been initiated in the case. Similarly, Human Rights
panel member Shukla, who is incidentally in-charge of Dewas
District, sympathized with the victims and assured them to take
appropriate action of human rights violation of the victims, he
said.
It may be stated here that on May 28 last Saurabh Maliya, Hariom
Maliya and Sandeep Maliya reached demanding his debt from Raees
Khan for the fertilizers and seeds which he had bought on credit.
Raees, who was busy with marriage festivities in his family,
expressed his inability to make the payment at that moment but
assured to clear the debt later on. This infuriated the Maliya
trio and there was heated altercation between the two parties. The
Maliyas went back but returned after sometime leading a mob which
attacked the family with iron rods thereby Raees, his brother
Habib and other family members were injured seriously. Even the
womenfolk were not spared and assaulted while the whole was
ransacked with doors and windows uprooted. The family guests ran
helter-skelter in the melee that ensued while the mob vandalized
the place and stones and mud were put in the utensil containing
the cooked food.
The mob while returning indulged in arson and put on fire 14 shops
of Muslims wherein goods worth 50 lakhs were gutted, it is said.
Meanwhile, SDPI state president Adv. Siddiqui said that he on
receiving information of the incident of communal violence in the
afternoon on phone on May 28 last had met Madhya Pradesh Director
General of Police S. K. Raut who immediately directed the
Inspector General of Police, Dewas to do the needful and control
the deteriorating situation forthwith. Though peace was restored
soon after the mayhem but on the contrary the police instead of
registering complaints of the nine members of Raees family, who
became victims of mob violence, arrested them in the evening and
put behind bars charging them under Section 307 IPC. While women
members were granted bail after four days, the male members of the
family remained behind bars for nearly one and half month before
bail was granted to them. The marauders are still roaming free
while the law enforcing agencies are playing the role of a mute
spectator caring two hoots to administer justice to the victims of
the communal violence.
Saurabh Maliya, who is a fertilizer and seeds trader, sells his
goods on credit to the villagers and then allows the debt to swell
with the accruing of interest amount. Then he harasses his clients
while demanding recovery of his debt and tries to brow beat them
with threat of violence, the memorandum said.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
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