The 6 January incident in Dhule, Maharashtra has once again re-enforced the belief that sections of police in India have become highly communalised and biased. The small skirmish between the two communities went completely viral and the police resorted to firing which led to the death of six Muslims. Many houses were set on fire of which most of them belonged to the Muslims.
According to the fact-finding report released by the Citizen’s Fact Finding Committee, which includes Shabnam Hashmi, Prof. Ram Puniyani, Prof. Apoorvanand, etc., the quarrel could have easily be handled by the police, had they been a little sensitive in tackling it. Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on 18 January, Prof. Apoorvanand said that more than 35 Muslim houses were looted, burnt and destroyed and all of it seemed to have been done with clinical precision. He further said that no one from the relatives of those killed was allowed to lodge FIRs as the deceased had already been made accused and were treated as rioters. The whole Muslim community is so scared that they are still not able to muster courage to go to the police station and file FIRs.
One of the shocking things of the incident is that neither the chief minister nor the home minister felt the need to pay a visit to Dhule to assess the reality so that the situation could be restored to normal. Prof. Apoorvannad narrated how the police stood as mere spectators and did not come to help the Muslims. It was the police who was leading the rioters and driving away the Muslims by firing at them so that the mob behind it could easily go and burn the houses and whatever was present in them.
One of the paragraphs of the report reads, “The looting, burning and destruction of Muslim houses was done by mobs under the protection of the police. In one of the recordings, a senior police officer is seen exhorting the mobs to move forward and attack. The police is also seen standing silently while houses are being burnt. What the police did was to drive away the Muslims by firing, leaving their houses unprotected and vulnerable.”
Such attitude of the police has instilled fear and anxiety among the Muslims and their frustration was very much apparent from their words. Nazneen, one of the victims who addressed the press conference, said that the police could have easily stopped this catastrophe from happening. What was the need to give firing orders, she asked. Why is there so much jealousy and hatred towards Muslims, she lamented. Narrating the incident, she said the police were killing as if they were killing criminals. They were playing among them and saying, “I have fired one round, now you fire one round.” Such was the hatred, she said while sobbing.
Even the traffic police joined the police and started firing at Muslims. The police fired only on the side of the Muslims and in order to remove the proofs and evidences the nagarpalika came the very next day and washed the whole areas so that one could get no evidence to prove the firing by the police, she added. She narrated the ordeal the Muslims faced at the civil hospital. The authorities treat the Muslims in a different way. They scoff and say: “Oh…Yeh Burqe wali hain….achcha yeh dadhi wala hai.”(Oh…she wears veil…Oh…he is bearded). She further said that the police catch Muslim youth and frame them under various charges and if one of Muslim policemen, who are very few in the department, tries to speak the truth by standing in favour of the person, the senior officers say, “Tere ko department mein rehna hai ki nahi” (Do you want to stay in the department or not).
Another shocking part of the incident is that all the bullets hit the victims above their waist. This shows that the bullets were fired with the intent to kill and not to disperse the crowd. Most of those who died were young men. One of the deceased, Imran Ali Qamar Ali, aged 24 years, was shot at the chest which led to his death on the spot. Saud Rais Patel, a 17 years old teenager, who was studying in class 12, died from bullet injuries. Naseer Ahmed’s son, Asim Ahmed, received two bullets above his waist and died. He was 24 years old.
The reason for such audacious acts by the police is because in Maharashtra transfers take place only within the district and not outside it, said Apoorvanand. This makes the police officers more entrenched and stable in the areas and hence they do as they like, he added. As per the issue that 159 police officers got hurt in the clash, it must be noted that only 18 were admitted in the hospital and that too because of minor injuries. One of the victims said that the police have bandaged their hands and face; however if you remove the bandage, you will find no wound. They are doing this just to portray that they got hurt, whereas the fact is something else.
Shabnam Hashmi drew the attention of the gathering towards the link between the Dhule riots and the training which the RSS and VHP give to their cadre. She said they are given training so that they could act immediately when something like this happens. She alleged that it came to light in the past that training to gang-rape women was also given to the cadre.
This is not the first incident where the police fired at innocent Muslims. Back in 2008, nine Muslims got killed in police firing and in 2010, one Muslim died. In the 2010 case, no enquiry has been done as yet and in the present case also the police have not yet filed or entertained any FIR. After much pressure and persuasion from certain groups the police just gave a receiving of the application, however no FIR got lodged.