“He always dreamt of seeing himself in Indian Army uniform, he wanted to be a Lieutenant. ‘How would I look in uniform,’ he would ask. I would ask him to tone it down, lest an evil eye may spoil it. My brother was influenced by the evil eyes of the mob.”
Babli Chaudhry remembers her younger brother Sumit as a simple young man who always wanted to join the army.
Just 100 Kilometers from National Capital New Delhi, Sumit was killed in an incident of mob violence on Monday in Chingrawati village of Syana area of Bulandshahr district in Western Uttar Pradesh.
20-year-old Sumit was part of the mob which had blocked the road protesting against the alleged cow slaughter. It was in this violence that SHO of the Syaana area, Inspector Subodh Kumar was killed.
This area of Bulandshahr is known for its sweet sugarcane fields. But now it seems that communal poison is spreading. Strange fear and tension can be seen on faces of local people but nobody wants to talk about it.
Silence has engulfed Chingrawati. Heavy police forces are deployed to keep the peace. Almost all of the youth of this village have fled fearing police crackdown. Only a few young kids and senior citizens can be seen around.
A narrow path from Chingrawati leads to Mahav village. The alleged cow slaughter happened here. The village looks deserted and engulfed in eery silence.
When I reached the village at 8 am, I could only see women riding in buggies to work in the fields. This is the time to reap hard earned sugarcane crops. The farmers have for long been troubled by the government’s negligence of the sugarcane crop. This violence has only added to their woes.
For Priti Chaudhary, a resident of Mahav, Monday was like just another day. Wed into a prosperous family of farmers, Priti is a mother of two young boys. The family owns many cattle. She was living a happy life till Monday.
But now, she cries remembering the time when her husband was informed about carcasses that were found in their sugarcane field.
She says, “Like every day, my husband went to the dairy with the milk. The villagers called him to inform that carcasses of cows have been found in our field. He immediately rushed to the spot. After reaching there the first thing he did was a phone call to the police. That was his only mistake.”
“The police arrived shortly and started the necessary investigation. The police, My husband and other villagers agreed to bury the carcasses in the field itself. The police inspector said that burying the carcasses will pacify the situation and avert communal tension. Meanwhile crowd gathered and Bajrang Dal workers reached the spot.”
“The Bajrang Dal leaders said that if we bury the matter here, such incidents will happen again. They insisted to stage a protest at the police post. They forcefully dumped the carcass in the tractor trolley and took it to the Chingrawati Police Post and started protesting.”
The protests at the Chingrawati police station turned violent which killed SHO Subodh Kumar and 20-year-old Sumit.
Priti said that on the night of Monday, the police forcibly entered her house and ransacked it. Priti’s husband Rajkumar Chaudhry is named as one of the accused in the FIR filed in connection with the violence.
In fact, the police had raided her home to arrest him. Rajkumar is on the run and she has not heard from him since Monday.
Priti alleges that she was beaten up by the all-male police team and that they damaged the car and everything else they came across.
After the violence, Priti’s husband has been absconding. The responsibility of reaping the sugarcane crop has now fallen up Priti’s shoulders.
She said, “Till now I had not even seen my fields, I don’t know all this work. Incident of that fateful day has destroyed my whole family and put me in a very difficult situation.”
Priti adds that had the Bajrang Dal workers not arrived at the spot and insisted for the protest, this day would have not come.
The family of Indian Army Solider Jeetendra Malik lives at the other end of Mahav village. Now, only his mother, Ratan Kaur, is present at his home. Incessant crying has taken toll of her health.
Ratan Kaur accuses police of vandalising her house on Monday night. Her sadness over this is quite visible. Everything remains scattered in the house. Washing machine, fans, television and many other items lay broken.
The police say that Jeetendra Malik was part of the mob which caused violence, while Ratan Kaur says that her son was on duty. Ratan Kaur’s husband has been taken into custody by the police while their son remains untraceable. Ratan Kaur said, “Whatever happened that day was wrong. Everything was done by the Bajrang Dal but we are forced to face the repercussions. My home has been destroyed.”
Whether Jeetendra Malik was part of the mob or not will be revealed by the police investigation. It is alleged that he shot SHO Subodh Kumar. But his mother thinks he is innocent and is framed in this case.
When we…
