An independent fact-finding team on Monday claimed that the clashes that broke out on January 26 in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj town were “pre-meditated, well-planned” violence, IANS reported. The team, comprising mostly of activists, also questioned why political parties had been silent over the incident.
The team had visited Kasganj on February 2 to carry out an independent inquiry and released the report on Monday under the banner of “United Against Hate”. The team, led by retired Inspector General of the Uttar Pradesh Police SR Darapuri, included journalists and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Mohit Pandey, among others.
The report claimed that the incident was not spontaneous but an “engineered act of violence” to “spread communal hatred”. It also alleged that there was no evidence to suggest that the police had arrested or questioned the motorcyclists who had participated in the Tiranga Yatra on Republic Day and entered a Muslim-dominated locality, The Indian Express reported.
“The police and administration, as testified by locals and ground evidence, played a partisan role, and allowed the mob led by Sankalp Foundation and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad to run amok and indulge in organised violence, specially targeting Muslim-owned shops and property, including two mosques,” The Hindu quoted the report as saying. “[The] Police has not visited these sites to inspect or collect evidence...The bias and prejudice of police is also acting as a deterrent for people to come forward and lodge individual cases of assault and damage.”
One person, identified as Chandan Gupta alias Abhishek, was killed in the clashes on Republic Day. On January 31, the Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested Saleem, the main accused in the murder of Gupta. The violence had taken place after the Tiranga Yatra diverted its route and entered the minority-dominated area, Darapuri told reporters in Lucknow on Monday, according to the Hindustan Times.
“The possibility of Chandan Gupta being killed from a distance and from the opposite direction to the wound inferred on his arm, does not gel,” the former police officer said, according to The Times of India. “The wound is one that is caused from close range.”
The team demanded a judicial inquiry into the violence and compensation for those whose shops and homes were ransacked in the incident.
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