The Madhya Pradesh police have booked three people and demolished the illegal structures where they were selling glass-coated Chinese kite string after a 20-year-old woman died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday after a glass-coated Chinese manjha (kite-thread) slit her throat. The accused on whom the action was taken were identified as Abdul Jabbar, Ritik Jadhav and Vijay Bhavsar.
As soon as the news was reported, without even bothering to read or figure out the full truth, some members of the usual gang of the ‘left-liberals’ rushed to Twitter to play the Muslim victimhood card. They argued that the MP police’s actions were completely communal as they only acted against the shopkeeper since he was a Muslim.
Almost all media outlets, even those on the left, such as The Print, included the names of the accused, making it obvious that the action was taken against two Hindu shopkeepers in addition to a Muslim. Still, a few ‘liberals’ like Radio Mirchi RJ Sayema, NDTV’s Gargi Rawat Ansari, and Ahmed Khabeer, a journalist for Jamia Times, were quick to conjecture that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh specifically targeted shop owners because they belonged to ‘different faith’.
Jamia Times journalist Ahmed Khabeer was the first one to peddle the ridiculous claim with his Tweet that read: “In MPK Ujjain, after the death of a student from Chinese manjha, the police and municipal team got the JCB run at the house of ‘Abdul Wahab’. He was a shopkeeper selling manjha, this is justice under the Shivraj government.”
MPके उज्जैन में चाइनीज मांझे से एक छात्रा की मौत के बाद पुलिस और नगर निगम की टीम ने मांझा बेचने वाले दुकानदार “अब्दुल वहाब” के घर पर JCB चलवा दी। शिवराज सरकार का इंसाफ़ देखिए@India_NHRC pic.twitter.com/XPJ9Dk7gJY
— Ahmed Khabeer احمد خبیر (@AhmedKhabeer_) January 16, 2022
While he completely overlooked the names of the other accused persons, he particularly mentioned Abdul Waheb’s name in quotes, implying that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s administration is hostile against Muslims in the state.
What was next, RJ Sayema and NDTV’s Gargi Rawat Ansari were quick to follow suit. They lapped up Ahmed Khabeer’s misleading claim. Deliberated out of her obvious hate for BJP, RJ Sayema too called the action “blatant and outrightly communal.”
NDTV journalist Gargi Rawat Ansari went on to question the legality of the action taken against the shopkeepers’ illegal structures. She too scoffed at the MP govt saying, that for them, the action was justified since a Muslim shopkeeper was involved.
These three so-called intellectuals presumably later decided to read the news in-depth and realised that the Madhya Pradesh police operation was not geared at the Muslim community in particular because the other two accused were Hindus. Left completely red-faced, they went on to present an even more absurd explanation to cover up their dozy aspersions against the BJP government in the state
“Deleted a previous tweet as 3 shops have been demolished in Ujjain. But the issue remains over taking such action as a punishment for selling illegal Chinese string for kites. It’s not the legal course,” Gargi Rawat wrote in her subsequent Tweet.
RJ Sayema went in as well, attempting to save herself. “This has happened with three shop owners who belong to different faith so can’t be called communal. Hence deleting this tweet. However, destruction of property can never be justified,” wrote the Radio Mirch RJ.
“The Ujjain administration has also taken similar action against two more people, Vijay Bhavsagar and Ritik Jatav, in this case, but this cannot be the way of justice,” opined Jamia Times journalist Ahmed Khabeer.
It probably becomes imperative for the likes of such people to know that following the woman’s death, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had issued directives to all districts to take strict action against people selling Chinese string as it was illegal to produce, sell and use the Chinese Manjha in the state.
Madhya Pradesh govt bans production, sale and use of Chinese manjha ahead of Makar Sankranti
In December 2021, the Madhya Pradesh state authorities had put a temporary ban on the production, sale and use of Chinese manjha (thread made of nylon or synthetic material for flying kites) ahead of Makar Sankranti. District collectors of Indore, Ratlam, Mandsaur and Ujjain had notified the ban separately ahead of Makar Sankranti.
The ban was imposed by the Mandsaur collector through a notification on December 21, 2021, under section 144 of the CrPC and any violation of the ban was punishable under section 188 of the IPC (disobedience of any order duly promulgated by a public servant), much in the same way as Covid restrictions are imposed by district collectors in the state and persons violating them are penalised.
Abdul Jabbar, Ritik Jadhav and Vijay Bhavsar booked for selling banned Chinses Manjha
Meanwhile, speaking about the case, City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Pallavi Shukla said three people, identified as Abdul Jabbar, Ritik Jadhav and Vijay Bhavsar, have been booked under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), and Chinese string has been seized, following which illegal structures in their homes were razed.
The arrest and the demolition were done after the gruesome death of a 20-year-old Ujjain girl named Neha Anjana. She was reportedly driving her Scooty and crossing a bridge when the kite string slit her throat on Saturday. The people present on the spot took her to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared her dead.
