After Karauli, the violence that took place on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya (May 3) in Jodhpur of Rajasthan was part of a well-planned conspiracy. Acid bottles, which are not normally available in homes, were also seen in the hands of rioters on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. During this time, a frenzied mob of hundreds of Muslims attacked the houses of people with acid bottles.
According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, in the CCTV footage of the five areas of Jodhpur where the rioters had created havoc, it was found that all of this was already planned. The CCTV installed outside a house in Sonaro Ka Bass locality shows that earlier the rioters had come to the locality and checked the situation there. After that, a mob of rioters came there with swords, rods, sticks, and acid bottles and attacked Hindus. During this time, stones and acid were thrown at the houses of the people.
Suraj Prakash, a local resident of Sonaro Ka Bass, said “The rioters were already gathered at Sonaro Ka Bass. All of them had already collected acid bottles. The frenzied mob attacked the unarmed people shouting religious slogans.” CCTV footage from near Idgah mosque showed that rioters first blocked the way by putting up police barricades to secure themselves and then vandalized vehicles. They then disappeared into the lanes.
Rioters had already planned the ways to deal with the police
The rioters had adopted a very well-planned way of keeping the police engaged. The rioters started creating ruckus at the Jalori gate. During this time, about 200 police personnel tried to stop them. The police got entangled in these people and the rioters went to the interiors of the city and started attacking people there. Heavy violence was carried out at Kabootar Chowk, Sonaro Ka Idgah Mosque, and other places.
Lokesh, a resident of Ghantaghar Pal House, had gone to Jalori gate with his brother to get medicine for his father on the day of the riot, but his brother was stabbed in the back. He was injured and is being treated in the hospital.
The police ignore the intelligence input
Jodhpur Police have now confessed that the violence could have been nipped at an early stage if a timely assessment of intelligence reports had been done properly. Reports say, there were comprehensive intelligence reports issued on the brink of Ramzan Eid and Hindu festivals of Parshuram Jayanti and Akshay Tritiya upon challenges that could prevail to maintain the law and order. However, Jodhpur Police was reportedly hesitant in taking decisive action when on the night of May 2 several Muslim youths gheraoed the Jalori Gate in the city to hoist an Islamic flag by replacing the Bhagwa one. Following this, on the next day, a large mob started damaging vehicles and pelting stones at the police just after the Eid Namaz.
