By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: After a week of facing criticism and heat over the handling or mishandling of the communal violence in Gopalgarh area of Bharatpur, there is some breather for the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan. Post mortem report of those killed in the violence, which was released yesterday, has pointed out that only three, out of nine killed in the clashes between Gujjars and Meo Muslims, died of bullet injuries.
The report has also made it clear, that five succumbed to the injuries from sharp weapons. Nine people were killed and around 23 persons were injured in the communal clashes, which broke out on September 14. Importantly all those killed were Meo Muslims.
Talking to TwoCircles.net from Jaipur over phone, DGP H C Meena said that, “the autopsy report makes it very clear, that out of nine dead, only two were clearly killed by bullet injuries, while the third person was killed by what looks like a rifle would. The rest five were killed by sharp instrument and mob violence.”
Meena also added, that it was unclear whether the police bullets killed the three. According to the Gopalgarh police, all those killed, were not the natives of Gopalgarh which witnessed the bloody episode, but were from the nearby villages. The local Meos told TCN that those killed in the violence belong to nearby villages because, as soon as the news of the priest of the local mosque, being beaten, spread, Meo Muslims from nearby villages had come together at the Eidgah, to discuss the future strategy.
The relief for the Rajasthan government is, that for now, at least officially, it is clear, that not all nine killed in the violence, died due to the police bullets. It has been widely held, both by the witnesses and the social and human rights activists who visited Gopalgarh, that police bullets took the nine lives.
Local Meo Muslims had told the ANHAD fact finding team and also the Congress fact finding delegation that no deaths had occurred until the police arrived and opened fire on the Muslims, who were subsequently caught in a cross fire between Gujjars from one side and police on another.
The state government last night ordered the removal of the entire staff of Gopalgarh police station in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district after it was found negligent in handling the communal clash. It is also expected that the state home minister Shanti Dharival might be shown doors over his failure to handle and contain the communal violence in the state particularly when the Gopalgarh incident was third incident in continuance, only during last one year under the Congress regime.
The removal order came after, there was mounting pressure on the Rajasthan government from the central party leadership, human rights activists and the Meo Mahasabha, to send a very strong message to the Meo community that the Congress government won’t tolerate any violence against the minority community.
With the assembly election in the state scheduled next year, the Congress party which has hit an all time low on the popularity chart, doesn’t want to loose minority votes at any cost.
It’s yet to be seen how the Meo Mahasabha, the supreme body of the Meo community, reacts to the autopsy revelation. The community has been demanding the resignation of the state home minister Shanti Dhariwal over his failure to stop the violence. Just to put pressure on the state government and pressing for the resignation of the minister, the families of the five dead Meo, haven’t yet claimed bodies for their last rites. Till now only four families of those killed, claimed the dead bodies and their burial took place on Thursday evening