Ayodhya is all set to consecrate the idol in the grand temple being built at the birthplace of Lord Ram. On Monday (22nd January), the idol of Ram Lalla will be consecrated in the sanctum sanctorum at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There have been countless sacrifices in this struggle that lasted for more than 500 years since the time of invader tyrant Babur.
There are also living witnesses to this struggle, who have suffered more persecution in independent India than during the Mughal period only because they worked for Lord Ram’s cause. Among them are Ramkaran Singh, Harilal Singh, and many other residents of the Sandpur village in the Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. OpIndia visited Ramkaran Singh’s village to gather information about the atrocities committed against him during the Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government in 1990.
Ramkaran Singh is originally a resident of the Sandpur village in the Basti district. On 22nd October 1990, on the information of the presence of Kar Sevaks, the local Dubaulia police station team raided this village. In this raid, the police had also opened fire. Ram Chander Yadav, and Satyawan Singh were martyred at this same time and later Jairaj Yadav was also martyred after a long fight with bullet injuries. Besides firing, the police also registered an FIR and brutally tortured the remaining villagers.
Ramkaran Singh was made the main accused in that FIR. Even today Crime No. 132/90 State Versus Ramkaran Singh is going on in the district court of Basti. When we went to meet Ramkaran Singh in his village, he was at home. He is around 70 years old now. The incident of the year 1990 is etched in his memory as if it happened not 34 years ago but just 34 minutes ago.
Serving Karsevaks was considered a crime
Ramkaran Singh revealed that the sole crime of the residents of Sandpur village was their dedication to assisting Kar Sevaks who had come there from various regions across the country. In Sandpur, a village following the Vedic principle ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, all the villagers were united in efforts to take Ram Bhakts to Ayodhya safely with proper provisions of their food and shelter. Ramkaran claimed that at that time Mulayam Singh Yadav had instructed to take action against those who gave shelter to the Kar Sevaks. Those who gave shelter to Kar Sevaks were thus treated as criminals. The school was closed and the Dubaulia Inter College was converted into a temporary jail.
Villagers wearing vests were dragged to the police station
Ramkaran Singh elaborated that on 21st October 1990, the SHO of Dubaulia at that time visited Sandpur village and forcefully took Raghvendra Singh, the school manager, from his home while he was seated, dressed only in a lungi and vest. The police station accused Raghvendra Singh of sheltering the Kar Sevaks.
On the way, the police found Ramkaran Singh. He opposed the police and asked them to allow Raghvendra Singh to wear clothes. Listening to this, the police station in-charge started abusing him. The officer said, “If we want to take him naked, he must come with us naked.” It is believed that the police were preparing to torture Raghvendra Singh and reveal information about the halting places of the Kar Sevaks and their secret routes to Ayodhya.
There were orders to catch Ram Bhakts alive or dead
Ramkaran claimed that seeing the opposition of the villagers, the police station in charge then released Raghvendra Singh and went directly to the Superintendent of Police of Basti district. There, the SP instructed the police to catch the villagers who gave shelter to the Ram Bhakts and Karsevaks present in the village dead or alive. For this, the Superintendent of Police also provided additional force to the police station after the order was received from his seniors.
The police team raided at 4 am on 22nd October 1990. Subsequently, women, elderly individuals, and children – anyone encountered – were subjected to brutal beatings by the police. Nevertheless, the villagers had received prior information about the police raid, allowing them to securely relocate the Kar Sevaks outside the village.
The villagers protested the atrocities by the police
Male policemen were deployed to torture the women. In this operation, the forces of PAC, paramilitary and 4 police stations were involved. Ramkaran Singh said that in the early morning, screams of women and children were heard from the Sandpur village. Due to this, people from nearby villages also started gathering.
The police became angry with the protest by the villagers. The police opened fire at villagers. Ram Chander Yadav and Satyawan Singh were martyred on the spot in this firing. Jairaj Yadav and Mahendra Pratap Singh received bullet injuries.
Police robbed women of their jewellery
According to Ramkaran, the police personnel in the front line opened fire killing unarmed people and injuring some of them. Then the second-line policemen came. They took possession of the corpses instead of giving them to their families. Along with this, they also took the injured with them, who were sent to jail without better treatment. This also led to the death of Jairaj Yadav 32 years later.
After this, the third-line police personnel entered the village. They started arresting the innocents present in the houses. At the same time, in the name of search, they looted the jewellery kept hidden by the women. On protesting, the cots of the sick elderly people were broken.
Nobody listened to the villagers
After a pause, Ramkaran Singh said that the villagers had to suffer unilateral action in the Sandpur massacre that took place under the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. Despite the murder of the villagers, no action was taken against the police.
Ramkaran Singh and other villagers together complained with every competent officer and leader right from the local level up to Lucknow to take action against the district administration. However, all these complaints were put in the dustbin. On the contrary, 40 named villagers and many others were identified as accused in the case against the villagers. These included the ones who lost their family members in the police firing, those who were injured in the firing and other villagers.
Not only humans but even the animals of the village were tortured
Suresh Kumar Pandey, a local public representative from Ramnagar, a neighbouring village of Sandpur, told OpIndia that he was well aware of the incident of 22nd October 1990. Then he was an intermediate student. He said that then even small trails were sealed, let alone the main roads.
Suresh claimed that the brutality shown by the police at that time by raiding the Sandpur village would not have been seen in India under the rule of tyrants. According to Suresh, not only humans but also the animals reared in the village starved due to police brutality for several days. There was no one left to feed them.
Careers of youth ruined
Suresh Kumar Pandey also claimed that in the incident of 22nd October 1990, the police had named many young villagers who were not in the village on the day of the incident. Due to being named in the case and subsequently going to jail, the careers of all those youths were also ruined.
According to Suresh, all this brutality took place on the orders of the then Mulayam Singh Yadav regime. Whoever went to the police station to advocate for the villagers named in this case was beaten up and called a Kar Sevak. People were sent to jail in false cases.
SC/ST, OBC, General Category – everyone was tortured
Numerous victims of police brutality secured bail from the Allahabad High Court, while others, who had been evading arrest due to fear of the police, eventually surrendered in court. Ramkaran Singh was identified as the primary accused by the police in this case. The individuals subjected to accusations and torment encompassed individuals from various categories within Hindu society, including SC/ST, OBC, and those in the general category.
As per Ramkaran, Sukhu, Ram Sumer, and Dadhibal Singh, who were subjected to police brutality, were incapacitated, and unable to rise from their beds for six months. The legal proceedings are currently ongoing in the Basti district court. All the accused are contesting the case by liquidating their land and assets or utilising their hard-earned funds.
Out of the 40 named accused, about 20 villagers have died at different times due to different reasons. Speaking to OpIndia, another villager, Harilal Singh, said that he too was named as an accused in the same case.
Harilal asserts that he was completely unrelated to the dispute, yet the police apprehended him from outside his house and incarcerated him. After spending 16 days behind bars, Harilal Singh managed to secure bail. According to him, when the men were imprisoned, their female counterparts were taken to safe homes by relatives. The situation reached a point where, for an extended period, there was no one left in the village to kindle the lamp.
It is good that the police did not find the Kar Sevaks
Ramkaran Singh shared that in 1990, he held the position of a school principal. The police action during that time had a profound and devastating impact on him and his family. Despite dedicated efforts over the past 34 years, Ramkaran’s family continues to grapple with the aftermath. Nevertheless, Ramkaran Singh finds solace in the thought that, for the greater good, the police did not apprehend the karsevaks who had come from different parts of the country. Otherwise, no one can guess what would have happened to them.
Even today, ready to sacrifice in the name of Lord Ram
Regarding the police rampage in his village, Ramkaran added, “Those who died went to heaven. All those who are alive like us are still ready to sacrifice in the name of Ram if needed.”
Ramkaran Singh has no regrets about what he and his family suffered for taking the police’s anger towards the Kar Sevaks on his head. Ramkaran and his family express immense joy over the construction of the grand temple dedicated to Lord Ram at Ramjanmabhoomi. They take pride in the fact that their family has played a role in this noble endeavour, acknowledging the sacrifices made for the cause.
