By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Top bureaucrats of the Madhya Pradesh Government have assured residents of village Ajnas in Khategaon tehsil of Dewas District of the state, who became victims of communal violence in May last, to mete out justice to them and punish the guilty after a thorough enquiry.
The delegation of the residents, which was led by Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), Madhya Pradesh Unit president Adv. Sajid Siddiqui, called on the state Chief Secretary Avani Vaish, Home Secretary Alok Ranjan and state Human Rights Commission member Vijay Shukla and submitted a memorandum here on Wednesday. The memorandum while demanding CID inquiry into the incident urged to withdraw cases registered under Section 307 IPC against the riot victims and their economic rehabilitation. The memorandum enlisted their woes and the details of the incident which occurred on May 28 last wherein a mob of about 150-200 people attacked Raees Khan and his family at his residence and injured them seriously while ransacking the house.
Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), Madhya Pradesh Unit president Adv. Sajid Siddiqui with the victims of communal violence in his office in Bhopal. [Photo Courtesy: Nabeel Bari]
According to Adv. Siddiqui Chief Secretary Vaish has marked the memorandum to Ujjain Commissioner for inquiry in the case and report back at the earliest. The Home Secretary taking serious note of the grievances of the victims of the violence assured them to look into the incident and report back by July 23 as to what action has been initiated in the case. Similarly, Human Rights panel member Shukla, who is incidentally in-charge of Dewas District, sympathized with the victims and assured them to take appropriate action of human rights violation of the victims, he said.
It may be stated here that on May 28 last Saurabh Maliya, Hariom Maliya and Sandeep Maliya reached demanding his debt from Raees Khan for the fertilizers and seeds which he had bought on credit. Raees, who was busy with marriage festivities in his family, expressed his inability to make the payment at that moment but assured to clear the debt later on. This infuriated the Maliya trio and there was heated altercation between the two parties. The Maliyas went back but returned after sometime leading a mob which attacked the family with iron rods thereby Raees, his brother Habib and other family members were injured seriously. Even the womenfolk were not spared and assaulted while the home was ransacked with doors and windows uprooted. The family guests ran helter-skelter in the melee that ensued while the mob vandalized the place and stones and mud were put in the utensil containing the cooked food.
The mob while returning indulged in arson and put on fire 14 shops of Muslims wherein goods worth 50 lakhs were gutted, it is said.
Meanwhile, SDPI state president Adv. Siddiqui said that he on receiving information of the incident of communal violence in the afternoon on phone on May 28 last had met Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police S. K. Raut who immediately directed the Inspector General of Police, Dewas to do the needful and control the deteriorating situation forthwith. Though peace was restored soon after the mayhem but on the contrary the police instead of registering complaints of the nine members of Raees family, who became victims of mob violence, arrested them in the evening and put them behind bars charging them under Section 307 IPC. While women members were granted bail after four days, the male members of the family remained behind bars for nearly one and half month before bail was granted to them. The marauders are still roaming free while the law enforcing agencies are playing the role of a mute spectator caring two hoots to administer justice to the victims of the communal violence.
Saurabh Maliya, who is a fertilizer and seeds trader, sells his goods on credit to the villagers and then allows the debt to swell with the accruing of interest amount. Then he harasses his clients while demanding recovery of his debt and tries to brow beat them with threat of violence, the memorandum said.