On 31st July, an Islamic mob in Nuh of Mewat, Haryana, attacked thousands of Hindu devotees attending the Jalabhishek Yatra on Shravan Somvar. During the attack, a mob of 800-900 mobsters attacked the devotees in the temple and damaged parts of the temple in the process.
Soon after the reports came out of the attack by the Islamic mob, left-liberals rushed to whitewash the attack. Likes of Alt News’ Mohammed Zubair quoted the temple priest from a 21-second clip of the Lallantop report and tried insinuating that the rioters did not attack the temple. However, one of the FIR registered on the complaint of the Duty Magistrate Mukul Kathuria in the matter tells a different story.
FIR mentioned Islamic mob pelted stones and opened fire at devotees in the temple
OpIndia accessed several FIRs registered in the Nuh violence. One of the FIRs that was registered based on the complaint of Executive Engineer (XEN) Mukul Kathuria of Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Haryana (IWRD) posted as Duty Magistrate (DM) mentioned that the Islamist mob of 800-900 pelted stones and opened fire at the devotees in the temple. During the attack, the temple was damaged. DM, his driver Khursheed, Inspector Rajbala and other officials stationed at the temple, along with devotees, were attacked by the Islamist mob with batons, guns and stones.
The FIR was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 332, 353, 186, 188, 295A, 153A, 452, 427, 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 25 of the Arms Act. Several rioters were named in the FIR, including Adil, Taamil, Arsad, Azharuddin, Kasir, Sakeel, Junaid, Salamuddin, Ikbal, Azad, Iliyas, Akbar, Rahul s/o Juna, Saleem, Ikka alias Kala, Tauhid, Yahay, Javed, Handle, Shahrukh, Harish s/o Yusuf, Ahmed, Asif, Shoaib, Langda, and others.
As per the complaint, Kathuria, his driver Khursheed, Inspector Rajbala and others were stationed at Nalhad Temple for duty during Jalabhishek Yatra. While devotees were offering prayers to Lord Shiva, a mob of 800-900 Islamists who were speaking local Mewati and Rajasthani languages charged towards the temple from the fields and mountains nearby in a pre-planned manner.
Kathuria said the rioters had batons, stones and illegal weapons in their hands. They were raising slogans of Allah-Hu-Akbar. As they reached the temple, the mob started pelting stones and opened fire to disturb Puja at the temple. Kathuria tried to alleviate the situation and requested them to back off loudly, but the rioters did not listen to him. They started getting close to the temple while raising the slogans of Allah-Hu-Akbar.
As soon as they reached the temple while screaming Islamic slogans, they again pelted stones and opened fire at the devotees and the officers stationed at the temple. During the attack, the temple premises got damaged.
Left-liberals claim the temple was not attacked
Soon after the reports of the attack, several left-liberals rushed to whitewash the anti-Hindu violence in Nuh. They claimed the temple was not attacked. Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair retweeted a 21-second clip from a Lallantop report where temple priest Deepak Sharma said the attack did not happen close to the temple.
Interestingly, when OpIndia checked the full 4-minutes+ video, the priest categorically said he did not come out during the attack as the administration asked them not to. He added to have listened to loud noises from inside. While he claimed the attack happened 1-1.5 KM away from the temple, the facts do not match up.
The priest they quoted was asked about the situation outside. He categorically said, “I don’t know much about it as we were asked to remain inside [by the security forces]. Devotees were coming and going. I did not go outside.” When asked about stone pelting from the mountains, he again said, “I want to say again I did not come outside. I am a priest. We remain inside.” When asked why they were asked to remain inside, he said, “There were around 4,000 people stuck inside, including women and girls. It was better to stay inside.”
He added, “Nothing like this [stone pelting] happened inside the temple. Whatever happened outside the premises towards 1-1.5 KM away from the temple.”
In another video by Lallantop, the reporter showed the extent of rioting close to the temple. As he travelled on the road showing signs of burnt vehicles, stone pelting and broken glass bottles, it was evident the location of the riots was not 1-1.5 KM away from the temple as the priest suggested. The left-liberal media quoted someone who did not come outside at all to propagate their narrative.
In the same video, a group of cooks was interviewed by Lallantop. One of the cooks said they reached the temple to cook bhandara and Prasad a day before the Shobha Yatra. He mentioned that they were stuck inside the temple for hours and could go outside only after forces came to rescue them. Dubious journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire claimed that though State Home Minister said the devotees were held hostage, the priest denied the claims.
The Wire quoted the priest saying, “Logon ko bandhak kya banayenge, parmaatma ki sharan mein the. Achanak pata chala ki mahaul kharaab hai. Stithi Kharab hone ki wajah se andar fans gaye (How can these people be kept hostage? They were in the shelter of the Almighty. But they suddenly learned that the situation outside was not good. Since the situation outside became bad, people got trapped inside (the temple).”
If we read it again, the priest said people were trapped inside as the situation outside was bad. Imagine the left-liberals claiming people in a bank attacked by robbers were not “held hostage” but just “stuck inside”. The priest said they were in the shelter of the almighty, which is more of a rhetorical answer.
A 21-second video cannot show the extent of the anti-Hindu riots covered by Lallantop. Notably, in the video where its reporter shared the extent of the damage, he categorically said the attack appeared pre-planned. The likes of Zubair appeared to have missed the point completely in a hurry to save the Islamic mob that pelted stones and fired on Hindu devotees.
