On 1st February, a tailor in Kumbharwada, Rajendrabhai Chauhan, filed a complaint with Boratalav Police alleging that two attackers, identified as Sahil Padarshi and Shaukat Mankad, entered his shop with a pipe in Sahil’s hand. They verbally abused and threatened the victim, he said, blaming him for filing a complaint against Munna Bilal Padarshi.
Subsequently, Sahil hit the victim on the head with the pipe, causing injuries. The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he received medical attention. A complaint was filed in the matter, leading to an investigation. The incident reminded me of the brutal beheading of Hindu tailor Khanhaiyalal from Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Speaking to OpIndia, the victim said he had been actively involved in various activities, including organising processions on Hanuman Jayanti and undertaking Kavad Yatra. He emphasised the communal harmony in the area, mentioning that both Hindu and Muslim communities reside peacefully. However, the recent incident has disrupted this harmony.
While he mentioned Hanuman Chalisa in his statement, there was no mention of the same in the FIR. When We asked him why there was no mention of Hanuman Chalisa in the FIR, as he mentioned in his statements, he said, “I had told these things to the police too, but if they don’t mention so, what can I do? Otherwise, I have given all these details to them as well.” However, he said that local police officers recently visited him and recorded his statement.
When OpIndia spoke to police, they denied the “Hanuman Chalisa” angle. The IO said, “There is no Hanuman Chalisa angle in the recent incident, and that’s why we haven’t mentioned it in the FIR. The investigation is still ongoing, and we’re probing all aspects.”
In another case, a lone Hindu family in a Muslim-majority village is being forced to convert to Islam. The matter is all over social media but will get ignored by the liberals.
पीड़ित परिवार का कहना है कि गांव में वे इकलौते हिंदू परिवार हैं इसलिए प्रताड़ित किया जा रहा है। प्रशासन जमीन का विवाद बता रहा है। कुछ महीने पहले दरभंगा में ही महादलित के शव के साथ अमानवीयता हुई थी।
— अ स अजीत (@JhaAjitk) February 4, 2024
ज्यादा लिखने पर हमेशा बिहार पुलिस द्वारा पेल दिए जाने का डर रहता है। पर हकीकत यही… pic.twitter.com/SDdAn893iC
The Hindu family has alleged that they are being forced to convert to Islam. They alleged Muslims assaulted them and threw their belongings out of their house. The family is the lone Hindu family left in the area, resulting in the harassment. The victim’s son, Vicky, accused five members of the Muslim community of pressuring them to either embrace Islam or leave the village. Vicky questioned if Hindus do not have constitutional rights and accused the authorities of neglecting their plea. Though the District Magistrate ordered an investigation after the matter made headlines, the police claimed there was no communal angle. SDO Bhalapatti Police Station claimed it was a hoax and the matter was related to a land dispute. Imagine it happening in reverse. The whole ecosystem would have jumped to criticise Hindus.
In a MusIim majority village of Darbhanga (Bihar), the only Hindu family is being forced to convert to IsIam. MusIims aren't letting him practice his religious activities as well.
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) February 4, 2024
The helpless family is begging for help from the govt.
This is what happens when they become the… pic.twitter.com/sw7929h0Fz
These two incidents did not happen out of the blue. In 2021, a mob of around 25-30 people brutally stabbed a Bajrang Dal activist named Rinku Sharma on 10th February (Wednesday). The 26-year-old deceased, who was stabbed in his house in front of his family members, was actively involved with the Hindu outfit and was a part of the donation drive being carried out by Bajrang Dal for contributing towards the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
When blood-soaked body pictures went viral on social media, there was haunting silence among the media houses. When it was finally covered, the media houses tried to whitewash the crimes, and the desperation to prove that there was ‘no communal angle’ to the murder was evident.
The Hindustan Times’ headline passed this off as just another murder that followed a scuffle. Rinku Sharma was murdered after an argument at a birthday party, Hindustan Times desperately wanted us to believe.
The Indian Express, true to its form, quoted a police officer saying, “When their businesses failed, they blamed one another… At a mutual friend’s birthday party, this issue again came up. However, people intervened at that time… The accused later went to Sharma’s place; he was standing outside. Both sides attacked each other, and Sharma was stabbed”.
Both media houses and police often deny communal angles in similar matters. But Why does the police say ‘No communal angle’ even when there seems to be one? Various factors typically play a role in such situations.
First of all, it is essential to recognise that incidents of this magnitude are seen as failures of the local police. For example, local police often appear cautious about acknowledging their inability to control riotous Islamist mobs. From the Delhi Riots of Nuh Violence, such incidents have shown how police sometimes fail to control the Islamist mobs.
There was an incident in Hauz Qazi where idols of Hindu deities were destroyed in a temple by a Muslim mob. The police swiftly procured the new idols to replace the desecrated ones overnight. However, the local Hindus resisted the replacement. Such patterns have been observed in several other cases where the authorities tend to downplay the communal crimes as such incidents question their jurisdiction.
Secondly, police have to operate in conditions where tensions and animosity escalate very quickly among the communities. There have been times when they deny communal angle even when it is present only to prevent further unrest in the region where the incident occurred.
In 2021, OpIndia talked to a retired police officer who spoke to us on condition of anonymity on such cases. He said, “We often know the truth but downplay communal incidents to ensure tensions are diffused. Policing cannot be influenced by public sentiment. Maintaining law and order is crucial to prevent one crime from escalating into several more, creating an uncontrollable situation.”
He further emphasised that sometimes, the police have to convey to the local community that they do not see a crime as communal to ensure there is communication without territorial disputes. The officer added, “People tend to identify with their co-religionists. If the police label a crime as communal, the Muslim community might not cooperate, hindering our investigation. Even if a crime is communal, downplaying it in the media is necessary for us to perform our duty, investigate, and ensure justice for the victim.”
In cases where a communal angle is involved, emotions run high. The police, who are responsible for maintaining law and order, irrespective of the situation and demography, find themselves caught between reality, incompetency and the necessity to prevent further law and order situations.
From the outside, it appears as an attempt to deny justice to Hindus deliberately. However, the reality is far more complex. The street veto to turn things violent is prevalent in regions where a particular community is in the majority. Such incidents and the police’s attempts to downplay the community angle come with the downside that Hindus have to struggle to establish themselves as victims. They must bring out the actual or accurate narrative the hard way by dragging their feet inside the courts for decades.
Denying communal angles can control the situation for once. But in larger purview, it gives the rioters a free hand for the future. It also raises questions about the true nature of justice expected to be delivered to the victims.
In the most recent case, there is an apparent communal angle. The victim himself said to multiple media houses that the police denied adding the joint angle in the FIR and did not mention playing Hanuman Chalisa was the reason for the attack. The Divya Bhaskar article has published their version, which clearly stated that the victim said the police refused to record that he was indeed attacked over Hanuman Chalisa. The report further added that the victim claimed the police pressured him not to add Hanuman Chalisa to the complaint.
In fact, the Divya Bhaskar article has published their version which matches ours. That the victim is saying the police is refusing to record that he was attacked over Hanuman Chalisa. This report goes a step further and says the victim claiming the police is pressurising him pic.twitter.com/2D2fiPgjtZ
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) February 4, 2024
It is essential to note that the liberal narrative tends to place faith in the police selectively. They are often biased in their approach to crimes. In cases where Muslims are criminals, liberals unquestioningly trust the police because acknowledging Muslim involvement in an attack on Hindus clashes with their agenda.
They consistently accept or reject the police version based on their narrative. This pattern of biased reporting persists in all types of cases, irrespective of whether there is a communal angle. Liberals either embrace or discard the police version according to what suits their narrative. The liberal ecosystem’s credibility goes up in the air as they prioritise agenda over facts.
