NGO seeks arrest of accused in Nagal communal violence

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26

The Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR), an NGO, today demanded the arrest of all accused in the Nagal village communal incident of Yamunanagar, which took place on February 21.

A team of the AFDR had recently visited the village and today, it shared its fact-finding report with mediapersons.

One of the victims Advocate Kamal Khan, present during the media interaction today, claimed his house was the first to be targeted. He said the community was scared and some families had left their homes and went either to their relatives’ place or rented accommodation.

The victims told the AFDR team that the mob came with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. All doors were axed and household items like refrigerators, washing machines, fans, and vehicles were damaged. Women said they escaped by jumping off windows. Javed and Arif, another victims, told the team that the attackers left them expecting they were dead. They had bandages on their heads and plasters on their arms.

Nagma, a graduate, and Tabassum, a Class XII student who had bandages on their heads, said some of the attackers were their colleagues.

However, the other party told the AFDR team that a group attacked them during a jagran and threw the parshad in the gutter. They also got a cross-FIR registered on February 22 under the same sections. However, the AFDR concluded that it was a false FIR, which was registered to bring the other party to the compromise table.

Meanwhile, advocate Mandeep Singh, who was part of the fact-finding team, said: “We will share our report with the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Commission for Minorities.”

Talking about the incident, Prof Jagmohan Singh, the nephew of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, said, “The atmosphere is being spoiled…If the Muslims hold a prayer in a public place it is being objected, but other communities are freely holding their functions. The girls from the minority community are not being allowed to study on the pretext of hijab ban…The BJP governments in the state operate with their agenda.”

Senior advocate RS Bains said, “The violence took place because probably there was assurance that no legal action will be taken. This development indicates how you prepare a society for a genocide.” He added that this happened from 1980 to 1984 too and then the anti-Sikh riots took place.

Meanwhile, the AFDR also demanded adding Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 379B (snatching) of the IPC to the FIR, quashing of the cross-FIR, charging negligent cops, rehabilitation of victims and judicial inquiry into the incident.

Moreover, a day after Diwali, a youth named Ikram was also beaten up in the village and he suffered fractures.

2 GROUPS FOUGHT OVER LOUD MUSIC

On Feb 21, a verbal spat over loud music between two groups snowballed into clashes in Yamunanagar village, injuring around 15 persons and damaging 13 bikes, a car and other household items. A temporary mosque was also allegedly ransacked. An FIR was registered against 33 persons by name for rioting, defiling place of worship, criminal intimidation, voluntary causing hurt and trespass.

Process to record statements on

The process to record the statements is on. Also, no one has been questioned in the cross-FIR. — DSP Rajat Gulia, SIT head

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