Malegaon Experience Of Riots And Communal Violence Bill
By Mustafa Khan
07 June, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Prologue
The scene is Lalit Grand Palace, Srinager, third week of June 2010. MJ Akbar and Tarun Vijay shake hands. After greeting each other they exchange pleasantries:
Akbar: Why do you throw pebbles at Muslims. Hurl boulders at us and see how your politics (of BJP) succeeds
Vijay: Ha, ha, ha!
Akbar: In fact BJP should rebuild the Babri mosque. We have many amongst the Muslims, like you, who would themselves demolish it and rebuild it ala the Akal thakt at the Golden temple!
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Malegaon has had the misfortune of engineered riots sustained with borrowed oxygen of communal hate. The borrowed oxygen costs money and according to Pramod Muthalik, more than 70 lakh for a riot and even more.
Many people in this town are overwhelmingly preoccupied with their struggle to get both the ends meet for their wretched hand to mouth existence. They live in a blissful ignorance (perhaps) and do not know that the government has decided to discuss and finalize the five year old Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill on July 15, 2010.
Last time a communal riot visited upon (like an epidemic in the sense of the old testament of the Bible) the town was October 26, 2001. The cause was trifling; a decorated awning for the Navratri cum Dassera festival was slightly bent but not pulled down or damaged by Muslim crowd. Adjoining it was the temple and the Juma masjid cheek by jowl. That Friday a policeman had torn a pamphlet calling people to buy Indian goods, be Indian and buy Indian. Muslims were outraged by the behavior of the police and tried to thrash him. He took shelter in a police van which was also slightly shaken by the restive crowd.
But the Hindutva groups spread rumour that a temple was destroyed and even a dozen Hindu women were molested. That kind of rumour and propaganda spread like a wild fire. For fifteen days there was curfew order clamped down on Malegaon. However, the villages and districts around came under the fury of the tornado of communal violence that spread to more than 200 villages and half a dozen districts. More than fifteen Muslims lost their life and a Hindu was also killed. Fourteen of the Muslims killed were victims of police shooting. A Muslim girl around the Girna dam area was raped but was sheltered by the bheel community. Later the rapists were tried and convicted by the court. So many mosques were demolished that a local web site put the number in its coverage which al Qaeda website quoted.
Muslim anger was not at the Hindus at the outset. There was no riot for appreciable time when the police could have prevented the flare-up involving them turning into a full-blown communal riot. The Muslims and Hindus did not rush at each other right away at the ground zero. The Hindus were busy for their preparation for burning the effigy of Ravana in the evening later that day. They were able to finish their ceremonial duty burning Ravana but in the meantime sporadic confrontation between the communities started taking place. The situation went out of control.
One of the gravest faults was that the shops of Muslims (mostly shops and repair centres of transport business) between chawni police station and Motibag naka were allowed to be looted and then burnt. The shops were quite visible to the end from the police chowki itself and there was no need to go and see. It was within reach of the police by walk. Had a couple of dozen cops taken trouble with just sticks and tear gas shells it could have been prevented. Muslims also burnt shops in their area. Even a woman doing some chores in the balcony of her first floor fell to the bullet of the police and died. As compared to Hindu shops and business establishments Muslims had more shops and business establishments looted and burnt. Even so the police firing took more Muslim lives. That was within the city. There was of course no shooting at the Hindu crowd that was looting and burning Muslim shops between chawni police station and Motibag naka. In the rural areas and villages there was no shop or business establishments of Hindus looted or burnt. Only Muslims suffered hugely and only they were forced to migrate from villages and rural areas.
Does all this fall into a kind of conspiracy where the police cannot extricate themselves from any blame?
A conspiracy is deep rooted secret planning of a crime and needs more than what the proposed Communal Violence is willing to admit. Nathuram Godse had made five attempts to kill Mahatma Gandhi. He even got circumcised in JJ Hospital in Bombay where the staff celebrated at the successful operation. (PM Rehmani, Faizane Rehmani, Anjuman Moinut tulba, 2005). The aim was to cause anti Muslim riot. He had shot in full view of the police and public and was no fool to believe that the people would have mercy if he was found uncircumcised. However, in the resultant melee he slipped away. But unfortunately he also carried a copy of his own newspaper “Hindu Rashtra”. The police searched lodges and hotels and came upon the abandoned copy of the Marathi newspaper and traced him to Poona. Before the day was over Prime Minister Nehru came to know the identity of the assassin and went on the air and told the nation. Till then Muslims were frightened and held their breath for the backlash that would visit upon them.
The proposed Bill should require first class honest work and follow up action on the events. The angle of conspiracy must include in every investigation of actions of individuals and organizations where there is possibility of actions and individuals affecting the two communities.
Preventing a riot is preventing conspirators from realizing their objective.
In the early 1980s SM Mushrif was SP of Malegaon when some miscreants garlanded a statue of a devi at Matamath in the center of Malegaon. The Hindu crowd became violent and threatened to retaliate. He reached the spot and tried to pacify. He wanted to call additional police force but could not wade through the crowd. Luckily the Maharashtra bank in front of the temple was open where he could use the phone. He went in and wondered why it should be open on a Sunday morning! He made inquiry and found that it was open to prepare the auction of a house of a Hindutva leader Advocate Gunjwad. He smelt a rat there. That lead proved vital for the lawyer had garlanded the statue with his own hand to cause a riot and stave off the auction!
In most cases unearthing the conspiracy is a failure and hence the festering wound of communal violence on our polity.
Similarly the administration does not show application. Application is effort or attention or using of rules of law in the case of riots with sincerity. What happened to the transport business mentioned earlier bears this out.
Controlling a riot should be prompt and effective. In the 2001 riot the police should have nipped the trouble in the bud. Their failure could also be because of some officers’ lack professionalism or bias. Officers often allow a group to fulfill its quota of inflicting damage and casualties. A prolonged curfew is a sign of lack of control of the situation. A Muslim army man was amazed and agonized over how Muslims were looting their own shops selling spices between Urdu library and the Mosom river when the curfew was relaxed. Most of the shops had been looted by Hindus on the very first day. The Muslims finished the left over.
Interesting to note is the fact that looting and burning of Muslim houses and properties went on in the villages of Nasik district and other districts. No curfew or prohibitory order was enforced in villages or towns. But in Malegaon it was enforced even when it was not as volatile as on the first day. Empowering the police now would lead to more misrule over the civil life rather than curbing violence. The police and administrative officials should be made answerable for the anomaly in enforcing curfews and using available force in very crucial time when the situation could have been brought under control. (Ashok Kamte did it well in Sholapur, Sangli and Satara posting.)
Mustafa Khan
Malegaon, Maharashtra
http://commonalty.blogspot.com/
