Nuh, Haryana: Ten days after communal violence erupted in Haryana on 31 July, Mohammad Talha, a 53-year-old Muslim shop owner, said the police told him to withdraw the complaint he had tried registering against Hindu rioters, who he said were members of a far-right Hindu nationalist group, who he accused of pelting stones on his house, causing him Rs 2 lakh worth of damage.
Speaking over the phone on 9 August, four days after Article 14 met his lawyer in Nuh, a Muslim-majority district in the southern part of the state, which was the epicentre of the rioting, Talha said, “Today, the police called me to the Nuh city police station. When I went there, they verbally abused me and threatened to arrest me in a false case if I didn't take back my complaint.”
Talha, a father to two daughters and three sons, said the police told him that his sons were involved in violence, and he was registering the complaint to save them. With one of his sons admitted to a cricket academy in Chandigarh, the other working as a doctor in Mohalla Clinic in Saket, and the third with him all day on the day of violence, Talha said the police could use their cell phone to track where they were.
Talha said the seemingly impossible task of registering his complaint had traumatised him.
“They forced me to sign a paper on which it was written that I don't want to take forward my complaint,” he said, naming one Bharat Singh as the policeman who coerced him. "They also wanted me to sign a paper on which it was written that I saw Muslims attacking policemen on 31 July. But I refused to sign it.”
Talha alleged that it was policeman Bharat Singh from Nuh City police station who threatened him to take back his complaint.
When Article 14 phoned Nuh City police station and spoke with Singh, he refused to reveal his post and, denying the allegations, said, "This is not in my knowledge. We have not pressured anyone. If anybody comes to us, we talk to them nicely." He immediately cut the call, saying, "If anything like this comes to my knowledge, I will let you know."
When we informed the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) for Nuh, Ashok Kumar, about Talha’s allegation, Kumar said, "100% this can't happen. We are encouraging people to register FIRs if they have any complaints. This is not in my knowledge."
The additional director general of police (ADGP), Mamta Singh, said she was unaware of this case.
"This is not in our knowledge. We won't refuse to register FIR if a complaint and evidence are produced. We are open to any kind of complaint,” said Singh, adding that Talha should meet her or the superintendent of police in Nuh. “Action will definitely be taken. If anything like this has happened at the lower level, it is not allowed."
An Exercise Of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’?
Six people—three Hindus, two Muslims and one Sikh —were killed in the violence that erupted around noon on 31 July after a religious procession organised by a Hindu militant organisation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, made its way through Nuh. The violence spread to Palwal, Faridabad and Gurugram.
Rioters from both communities burnt vehicles and shops. A mosque in Nuh was set on fire on 2 August.
As the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana started arresting people and demolishing the shops of alleged rioters, claiming they were “illegal constructions”, the government’s actions appeared to be overwhelmingly against Muslims.
Echoing these concerns on 7 August, Punjab and Haryana High Court, taking suo motu cognisance, stayed the demolitions, questioning whether buildings belonging to a “particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem” and if the state was conducting “an exercise of ethnic cleansing”.
Three days after this observation, the bench of Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeevan was replaced by Justices Arun Palli and Jagmohan Bansal ahead of the next hearing on 11 August.
Muslims we spoke to in Nuh alleged to us that the police were conducting a “one-sided” investigation, not registering their complaints against Hindus. There was so much fear of being implicated in a false case that some of them had decided to withdraw their complaints to avoid any exchange with the police.
We saw two complaints against members of the Bajrang Dal, a far-right Hindu group, one by Talha and the other by a Nuh-based lawyer, Aziz Akhtar, alleging they committed violence on 31 July. Both complainants said no FIR was registered.
“This is a completely one-sided investigation. Police are not registering FIRs against the other side," said Tahir Hussain Devla, a lawyer appearing for both complainants. "We tried to register two FIRs against Bajrang Dal men, but the police are not registering FIRs against them.”
According to news reports, 312 people have been arrested, 106 taken into preventive custody, and 142 FIRS have been registered in the state, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij has said.
Devla, who practises in the Nuh district court, said that 16 Muslims came to him with complaints of Hindus burning their shops, pelting stones at their homes, and mobs engaging in violence but then decided to withdraw their complaints, fearing the police would end up targeting and arresting them.
One Muslim man who came to him with a complaint had suffered losses of Rs 15 lakh but decided not to file a complaint because he did not want to invite any attention and run the risk of the police implicating him in a false case, said Devla.
More than 50 FIRs have been registered in Nuh district related to the communal violence, and 141 have been arrested from Nuh, Tauru, Firozepur Jhirka, and Punhana, all of whom are Muslims, said Devla, who is representing many of them.
“No man from Bajrang Dal has been arrested,” he said. “Can you imagine that no person from the other side has been arrested in a situation of communal violence? Couldn’t these police officials see the damages being done to the shops of Muslims?”
Chaudhary Aftab Ahmed, a Congress party leader and a two-time MLA from Nuh, also accused the police of "conducting one-sided arrests" without a fair investigation. “Instead of doing justice and conducting a fair investigation, it seems that this government is playing to the gallery and working to appease a section of people,” he said.
The First Complaint
In a complaint dated 5 August, Talha said his house at Kheda Mod, Nalhar road, was attacked in the afternoon on 31 July.
“On 31 July 2023, I was with my family at home. Then, 500-600 men with scarves of Bajrang Dal around their necks were passing from medical college, Nalhar, with guns, swords, and weapons in their hands and raising anti-Muslim slogans. As soon as they reached my house, they started pelting stones at my house and tried to open the shop's shutter on the ground floor. They also tried to break the main gate of my house. I tried calling the police, but they didn’t come. The glasses of my house and shop were broken,” the complaint reads.
The complaint was addressed to the station manager, Nuh city police station.
Talha said that he and his lawyer, Devla, went with his typed-up complaint to the Nuh city police station that same day and gave it to a constable.
When Article 14 called the Nuh City police station, the station house officer of the Nuh City police station, Hukum Singh, said 17 FIRs had been registered at his police station related to the violence.
In response to a question about Talha’s complaint, Singh said, "I will let you know after checking."
After Singh stopped responding to our calls, Article 14 sent him text messages with the questions. This story will be updated if he responds.
A Second Complaint
When Hafiz Saddique, 44, saw a mob with saffron scarves around their necks, he closed his furniture shop and ran away. Looking back, he saw them breaking the shutter of his shop with the sticks they had in their hands.
“Then they entered my shop and burnt it. I also saw them looting chairs and other furniture from my shop,” he told Article 14, estimating losses worth Rs 18-20 lakhs.
On 2 August, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced compensation for those who had suffered losses in the violence in Nuh.
Saddique said that he was called on 8 August to the office of the sub-divisional magistrate, where he was told that a survey would be conducted to assess the losses suffered by people in the communal violence.
"I submitted a complaint to Nuh city police station on 6 August demanding an FIR to be registered against the unknown men and also demanded compensation for my loss. The police took my complaint, but till now, no FIR has been registered,” Saddique told Article 14 on 12 August.
His lawyer, Mustak, who goes by one name, said a general FIR might have been registered against Hindu mob violence, which included Saddique’s store, but and no FIR was registered against the complaint his client had filed.
Saddique said he wanted it to reflect what he heard them say—Mulle Kaate Jayenge Ram Ram Chillayenge (When Muslims are slaughtered, they will scream Ram's name )— and the damage he suffered.
“I should get the FIR copy,” said Saddique. “I want the FIR to be registered specifically against the mob that I described in my complaint."
Difficult To Find Lawyers
Majoritarian sentiment in Haryana was so strong that Muslims were finding it difficult to find lawyers, even Muslim lawyers, to take up their cases, said Devla.
Alleging the police had picked up three Muslim advocates and later released them, Devla said, “This is being done to intimidate the lawyer community so that nobody comes forward to fight these cases.”
Tahir Hussain Ruparya, who practises in Nuh district court, said Muslims had difficulty finding lawyers. Even Muslim lawyers were reluctant to take up cases.
“I’m not scared because I’ve been defending Muslims wrongly accused of Haryana's cow slaughter law for years and have got used to the state's intimidation,” he said.
‘Tomorrow I Am Coming To Mewat’
The VHP has organised the ‘Brij Mandal Yatra’, a 95-km long religious procession from the Nalhar Shiv Mandir to Singar village in Nuh district, since 2021.
Some people blame the violence this year on the videos released by Bajrang Dal leaders Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi, where the self-appointed “gau rakshaks” or cow vigilantes said they were going to Nuh for the procession.
In the name of cow protection, Manesar has terrorised Muslims in the Mewat region bordering Rajasthan and is accused of lynching two Muslim men in February 2023.
The Haryana police have never arrested him, and the impunity he persists in his vigilantism is galling and painful to the Muslims of Nuh, as Article 14 reported on 7 August.
In a video Bajrangi, president of a cow vigilante outfit called the ‘Gau Raksha Bajrang Force', who has multiple cases of hate speech and hurting religious sentiments registered against him, said, “Tomorrow, I am coming to Mewat. I am the brother-in-law of jihadis.”
For this video, Bajrangi was booked at Dabua police station in Faridabad district for "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings”. The police said he was arrested on 4 August and released on bail the same day.
A Third Complaint
In another complaint dated 5 August 2023, lawyer Aziz Akhtar, who practises in the Nuh district court, said that Bajrangi and thousands of his men, who had swords, guns and weapons, pelted stones on shops, hotels and houses after noon at Meoli Modi and Nalhar Medical College.
In his complaint demanding the police arrest Bajrangi and Monu Manesar, Akhtar wrote they released the videos “as part of their conspiracy to incite riots and spread religious hatred”.
“On 31 July, Bittu Bajrangi and thousands of his men took out a procession in hundreds of vehicles with swords, guns, rifles, pistols, and other weapons in their hands. They also had stones in a few of their vehicles. They entered Nuh raising provocative slogans and, afternoon, pelted stones on and looted shops, hotels and houses on Meoli Road and Nalhar medical college road. The arson, violence, loot, stone pelting, murders in Nuh have been committed by these men as part of a well thought out conspiracy,” said the complaint.
Akhtar said that he submitted his complaint to ADGP Mamta Singh.
ADGP Singh said that she had received his complaint and told him that the Faridabad police had already registered an FIR against Bittu Bajrangi's video.
“Regarding Monu Manesar's video, I told them that I have asked SP Mewat to examine the video, take legal opinion, and proceed as per the law,” she said. “Because the video I have seen, he calls people to come and says he will also come. I do not know whether that falls in the category of hate speech or not.”
‘No Notice Was Served’
According to a Hindustan Times report on 10 August, 1208 buildings, the majority belonging to Muslims, were demolished by the Haryana government after the 31 July violence.
On 5 August, two Muslim and one Hindu shopkeeper whose medical shops near the Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College in Nuh district were demolished, told Article 14 that they were not given any notices. The demolition of their shops took them by surprise, and they complained of being wrongfully punished.
“We saw our shops reduced to pieces when we reached this morning. No notice was served to us,” said Mohammad Rafiq, owner of Mewat Medicos. “This is a dictatorship of the government. We had no relation to the violence. Still, we are made to pay the price.”
In a statement, the deputy commissioner of Nuh, Dhirendra Khadgata, said that the “illegal construction”, including 45 concrete structures and about 15 temporary structures, was removed from 2.6 acres of land opposite the government medical college.
“If my shop was illegal, why was I provided a licence to run the medical shop in 2012?” asked Rafiq.
Mohammad Yunus, whose shop Wasim Medicos was reduced to rubble, suffered a loss of Rs. 50 lakhs and is now worried about his future.
Vinesh Dalal, who ran Haryana Medical Store, said medicines worth Rs. 15 lakhs were reduced to rubble along with his shop.
“You can ask any medical store owner here. Nobody was served any notice. When I reached my shop on 5 August, I saw the bulldozers running over my shop,” said Dalal. “I tried to ask the bulldozer operator that I was given a licence by the government in 2015 to run this medical shop, then why is it being bulldozed? He replied that the orders are from above.”
While staying the demolitions, Justices G S Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan gave the Haryana government four days to "furnish an affidavit as to how many buildings have been demolished in last two weeks, both in Nuh and Gurugram and whether any notice was issued before demolition”.
In the hearing on 11 August before Justices Arun Palli and Jagmohan Bansal, victims' counsel Surjit Singh Swaich argued that demolitions were carried out without any prior notice to the occupants. Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan claimed that all actions were taken in compliance with law. The bench shortly adjourned the hearing to 18 August after Justice Palli pointed out that as per High Court rules, suo motu matters have to be put before the Chief Justice within three days.
On the road of the Nuh bus stand, where roadside shops and kiosks were being demolished, the operator of the yellow bulldozer told Article 14 that the government had given notices to the shops three days after the violence, but shopkeepers in the area said they did not receive any notices.
“This government is carrying out these demolitions to appease their voters and send a message to them that Muslims did riots, and now we are bulldozing their homes and shops. But I am a Hindu, and I can say that nobody among us was involved in riots,” said Dalal, the Hindu shopkeeper.
“All of us were at our shops on the day of violence,” he said, referring to Hindus and Muslims.
Arresting Muslims
In seven FIRs registered on 1 August at the Nuh city police station, which Article 14 saw, the complainants were police personnel who accused mobs of Muslims of attacking them.
One FIR, registered against 12 Muslim men for attempt to murder, causing hurt to public servant, rioting, assaulting a public servant to deter him from his duties, obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions, mischief by fire or explosive substances, under the Indian Penal Code, 1869, and for possessing firearms under the Arms Act, 1959, said that the “rioters from the Muslim community” surrounded a bus, and, intending to "kill people", started pelting stones and firing on the bus during which one stone hit the right shoulder of the complainant constable Ramendra Singh and one stone hit his head.
Muslims in Nuh said the police only investigated and arrested Muslims.
In Meoli village, villagers said the police came at five in the morning on 1 August and started picking up Muslim men without giving them or their families any reason.
One of the men who was arrested, 21-year-old Aahir Khan went to give his law exam at Lords University in Rajasthan on the day of violence, his grandfather Chaudhary Safhat said, showing his date sheet and two bus tickets, one of going to Alwar from Nuh on 31 July at 8:21 am and the other of returning to Nuh from Alwar on 31 July at 11:46 am.
“Those who are culprits must be arrested. But people from this village didn’t even know about the procession in Nuh. They had no relation with it,” said Safhat, a landowning farmer.
Basheer Ahmad broke down while talking about his 20-year-old son, Mohammad Talha, who was arrested by the police.
“He works as an electrician. On 31 July, he went to Mission Hospital for some repair work. He was arrested at around 3 pm while he was returning from work,” said Ahmad, referring to a hospital eight km from Meoli village.
Shabnam, 30, said the police pushed her aside while arresting her 35-year-old husband, Anish, and used misogynistic expletives.
Two Muslims, Shehzad Khan and Shahrukh Khan, who were arrested, worked as security guards at Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, Nalhar, and they were at work on the day of the violence, their family said.
“They had no role in the violence,” said Arfina Khan, Shehzad's sister-in-law and Shahrukh's cousin. “When we asked what’s the matter and why are they arresting our men, the police shut us up rudely. When my mother-in-law tried to talk to the police, they replied rudely and threw a utensil at her.”
Shahrukh Khan’s father, Nisar Ahmad, wrote a letter to the government college director informing him that the police picked up his son even though he had left for duty.
They did not get a response.
(Kaushik Raj is a freelance journalist and poet based in Delhi).
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