Earlier this month, a madrassa operator named Maulana Farooq was murdered on 7th June 2024 in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The motive behind the Pratapgarh Maulana murder case was found to be a monetary dispute between the accused and the victim. A few individuals from the Hindu community were accused in this case. Following the incident, a Muslim mob took the law into their own hands. They not only pelted stones at the police but also tried to enter the houses of the accused.
The police managed to control the situation using force. Seeing the unrest, many people from the Hindu community in the village fled their homes in fear. Despite numerous assurances from the police, they are not ready to return. The names of those who have left the village include Dinesh Chandra Pandey, Jaiprakash Pandey, Rajesh Chandra Pandey, Anil Kumar Pandey, Ramakant Pandey, and Lala Pandey, among others.
According to reports, the incident took place in Sonpur village, within the Jethwara police station area of Pratapgarh. Violence erupted in the region on 7th and 8th June during which Muslim mob resorted to stone pelting. The violent mob also tried to storm the homes of the accused. Since then, police have been stationed in the village. Given the situation, many people from the Hindu community locked their homes and went to stay with their friends and relatives.
Several Hindu families have become refugees out of fear. The district administration has assured them of providing security and keeping them safe multiple times. Despite this, many families are not ready to return home. No action has been taken yet against those who vandalised their homes. It is also alleged that the violent mob targeted the homes of Hindus who had nothing to do with the killing of Maulana Farooq.
Samajwadi Party leaders went only to Maulana’s house
Meanwhile, despite numerous efforts by the administration to persuade them and various police restrictions, members of the Samajwadi Party reached the house of the deceased Maulana Farooq. On Saturday (15th June), they first broke through the police barricade and then reached the house of the deceased. This delegation from the Samajwadi Party included former minister Kamal Akhtar and former MLC Udayveer Singh. However, no one made any attempt to visit the homes of the affected Hindus.
Hindu organisations warned not to take unilateral action
Meanwhile, Hindu organisations have also intervened in this matter. Several Hindu organisations in Pratapgarh have united and announced that they will not tolerate unilateral action in any form. They have also appealed to the administration to ensure the safety of the Hindus in the village. They also slammed the Samajwadi Party for raising a one-sided story and criticised them in the harshest terms. The Pratapgarh Police stated that they are monitoring the situation and have given necessary instructions to the concerned officials.
संबंधित प्रकरण में उच्चाधिकारीगण के नेतृत्व में थाना प्रभारी आसपुर देवसरा व जेठवारा को संयुक्त रुप से जांच एवं विशेष सतर्कता हेतु निर्देशित किया गया है।
— PRATAPGARH POLICE (@pratapgarhpol) June 15, 2024
Pratapgarh Maulana murder case: 3 individuals including a woman arrested so far
So far, the police have arrested a total of 3 accused in the Maulana murder case. One of them is a woman. The arrested accused are named Devi Prasad Pandey, Chandramani Tiwari, and his wife Sita Tiwari. All of them have been charged under sections 147, 148, 302, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
No Communal angle Pratapgarh Maulana murder case, was murdered over a dispute over monetary dispute
After the murder of Maulana Farooq, several Islamic and leftist social media handles attempted to give it a communal colour. They tried to portray it as a targeted killing of Muslim scholars in Uttar Pradesh. This entire group linked together the deaths of Muslim clerics who were killed for various reasons in the Moradabad, Shamli, and Pratapgarh districts of Uttar Pradesh.
मुरादाबाद: यूपी में तीन इमाम की हुई हत्या के मामले में AIMIM ने मुख्यमंत्री के नाम @DMMoradabad को दिया ज्ञापन
— Mohammed Naseeruddin (@naseerCorpGhmc) June 13, 2024
⏩प्रतापगढ़, शामली और मुरादाबाद में तीन इमामों की बेरहमी से हुई हत्या
⏩AIMIM ने किया प्रदर्शन, इमाम-पंडितों-पुजारी की प्रदेश स्तर पर सुरक्षा के प्रबंध की मांग की… pic.twitter.com/qWllZtORgS
Several X users insinuated that the three maulanas killed recently in separate incidents in UP were somehow targeted in religiously motivated crimes, however, the reality was totally different. In fact, in two of the three said cases the land and monetary dispute emerged as the motive behind the killing while in one case unknown attackers killed a maulana but the motive of the killing was yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, police investigation has made it clear that none of these murders were targeted killings or driven by communal motives. In the Shamli case, it was the son who had murdered his father. In the Pratapgarh case too, police investigation revealed that the motive behind the murder was a dispute over money and land. During police interrogation, the arrested accused Chandramani Tiwari, on 11th June, stated that he comes from a very poor family.
Tiwari said that he earns a living by selling milk and doing some farming. The accused and the deceased Maulana had good relations. Due to a lack of money, the accused had sold approximately 10 biswa of land to Maulana. A dispute arose over this transaction involving money and land. Because of this, in a fit of rage, the accused murdered Maulana with a shovel.
Pertinently, the deceased Maulana’s son Mufti Mamoon had said that there was no communal angle to the case even though some locals and Islamists on social media alleged that it was a communally motivated crime. Meanwhile, Jethwara police station SHO, Dharmendra Singh said, “It was neither a property dispute nor a communal crime per say, the accused alleged that he had given some money in advance which he wanted to be returned to him.”
