The way the police and rioters opened fire at Gopalgarh in Bharatpur district of Rajasthanon September 14, 2011, targeting Muslims and mosques resulting in death of 10 innocents and rendering more than 30 others injured is highly condemnable.
Representatives of Rajasthan Muslim Forum visited Gopalgarh recently to look into the condition of victims’ families and find out the status of the probe. It met officials of Central Bureau of Investigations while visiting the area. It found the accused police officials and administrators walking freely while five innocents continued to be behind bars on judicial remand.
Rajasthan Muslim Forum along with different other Human Rights organisations had condemned the incident and pointed fingers towards police and administrators. A delegation of the Forum met Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Director of the Central Bureau of Investigations, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi regarding the incident and demanded justice for the victims.
Social organisations along with some victims got their FIR lodged against the Collector, Superintendent of Police and some police personnel – 10 among them are from Gujjar community – under Articles 302, 147,148, 149, 307, 436, 295, 427, 109, 353, 153(a), 120(b) of Indian Penal Code and demanded dismissal and arrest of the police officials involved in the case. Later, police personnel of Gopalgarh police station, following the indications of Collector and SP, got some fake FIRs lodged against victims so that the police and administration might be saved.
The Forum believes that both the Government of Rajasthan and CBI are guilty. Earlier, the CBI was directed to investigate the five FIRs through a notification issued by the Government of India on October 11, 2011. Later a notification of the Union Government issued on October 12, 2011 directed the CBI to extend its area of investigation and take into its account 14 more FIRs lodged by the victims. But the CBI concentrated on the five FIRs lodged by the police and gave cleanchit to the Collector and SP on March 5, 2012. Other 14 FIRs lodged by victims were deliberately dropped and registered only on February 24, 2012 i.e. after passage of more than four months. Five members of Muslim community, whose shops and houses were set ablaze and who lost their lives and properties in the incident, are behind bars without any reason.
However, the State Government, under the pressure of Muslims as well as other Human Rights organisations, suspended the Collector and SP but did not prepare charge-sheet against them. Later the court revoked their suspension orders.
The Forum believes if the government had taken appropriate actions regarding previous communal clashes in the state and gone through the legal process against guilty police personnel and administrators, the same would not have been repeated in Gopalgarh.
The Forum demands justice for victims, promptness in CBI inquiry, immediate arrest of guilty officers and release of innocents and stringent punishment to the involved officials and culprits after an impartial inquiry.