“Yogi Adityanath will only win 2022 elections. The entire state will see”, affirmed Munesh Devi, mother of Sachin and relative of Gaurav who were murdered in Kawal during 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Munesh Devi and Bishen Singh are residents of Malikpura of Meerapur, which is one of the six constituencies of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
On February 6, as team OpIndia gained went to have a conversation with the relatives of Sachin and Gaurav ahead of the UP Assembly Elections, mother Munesh Devi and father Bishen Singh could not hold on their tears and recalled the dreadful murder of their son Sachin and his cousin Gaurav on August 27, 2013.
Sachin and Gaurav, two Jatt brothers were murdered by seven men, named Muzassim, Muzammil, Furquan, Nadeem, Jehangir, Afzaal and Iqbal, triggering one of the biggest communal clashes in Muzzafarnagar killing at least 60 and leaving around 55,000 homeless. The riots that continued for over a month in Muzaffarnagar had severe consequences on the Lok Sabha Elections then, riding the anger of the Jatt community.
The Sessions Court in 2019 had declared the seven accused guilty in Kawal double murder case. They were charged under sections 147, 148, 149, 302 of the IPC. The seven had slaughtered Sachin and his 17-year-old cousin Gaurav by hitting with rods and had brutally crushed their faces with heavy stones.
Sachin’s family at Malikpura includes his parents accompanied by two of his uncles, Tajinder Singh and Prahlad Singh. As Munesh Devi controlled her emotions and wiped the tears off her face, Tajinder Singh spoke to Opindia and said that the two of their sons were severely beaten and there was no place left on their bodies where they had not been tortured. “They (murderers) hit them, tied their hands and legs with rope and took out a full procession in the village. Nobody came to help. By the time we were informed, the two had already stopped breathing”, he stated.
Munesh Devi added that they were clueless about what had exactly happened. Both of their kids were murdered. “Our brains had stopped working. We could not think of anything. We had lost our sons”, she said adding that since Yogi government has come to power in Uttar Pradesh, there is enhanced security and respect for law and order. “Now the hooligans are afraid of threatening, abusing the girls. They now know that the Yogi government will not spare those who create nuisance in the society”.
‘No better UP CM than Yogi Adityanath’-
In 2013, according to Prahlad Singh, the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav had set the grounds open for criminals and thugs to pester the civilians, making their normal life miserable. Prahlad Singh, the eldest of three in Sachin’s family said that during SP’s regime, people feared to even roam around in the village. “The village had become a bad place for our daughters and our women. They were not at all safe”, he said.
He added that since Yogi Adityanath’s government has come to power, there has been a lot of development. “Yogi Aditynath has made massive progress in last 5 years in Uttar Pradesh. The most important change we’ve noticed is regarding peace in the state. Now nobody dares to disturb and destroy the peace for civilians”, he said. Munesh Devi also agreed and affirmed that Uttar Pradesh is a better place now for women under Yogi Adityanath’s government. “Hooliganism, kidnapping, theft, dacoity are all over”, she added.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate of Meerapur Prashant Gurjar also joined in the conversation and said to OpIndia that the entire Jatt community is in support of the law and order. “Yogi Adityanath has a different law altogether and it is appreciated by everyone in the Jatt community”, he said. “The ballot fight in Meerapur is not between SP’s Chandan Chauhan and BJP’s Prashant Gurjar, it is between Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath. People know that if Akhilesh Yadav led government powers again, they will have to face the bad days”, he affirmed.
Samajwadi Party led govt had pressurized the Police to arrest Sachin’s family-
The family of Sachin and Gaurav are still fighting the case after the families of the seven culprits had said that they would approach the High Court in 2019. Munesh Devi said that the Akhilesh Yadav led government had pressurised the Police to arrest father and uncles of Sachin. “Even father and another relative of Gaurav were trapped. Total 6-7 members of our family were unnecessarily arrested. The police and the government knew that we were innocent”, she stated.
On August 27, 2013, Gaurav and Sachin had tharashed one Shahanawas because he was harassing their sister. Later the duo were slaughtered by seven Muslims in front of the entire village. The family says that the law and order situation in the area was in tatters. “The Panchayat and the police were managed by the Samajwadi Party led govt who tortured our family after our own sons were killed. Now we don’t have anything to do with Muslims here. Earlier we maintained relations of brotherhood with them. But now we don’t care about the Muslim community”, she said.
She and her family reaffirmed that the most important development undertaken by Yogi Adityanath government is that of advancement in law and order. “There definitely is caste equation to some extent but there’s no division among the Jatt community. Yogi’s government will definitely come to power again. Everybody will see”, she said.
Meerapur Assembly constituency is one of the 403 constituencies of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. It is a part of the Muzaffarnagar district and one of the five assembly constituencies in the Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency. Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Uttar Pradesh from February 10 to March 7 in seven phases. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on March 10.
