By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
A week ago, Pratapgarh police conducted a raid in search while looking for an absconding criminal but ended up targeting Muslim residents of three villages of the district.
Javed alias Jabba and Shoaib are two criminals who are wanted by the police for their involvement in various cases. Police received the intel that Javed and some his companions were hiding in the villages Bhuliyapur, Azadnagar and Ahmadnagar.
On July 27, Pratapgarh police conducted a search and raid operation in Bhuliyapur, Azadnagar and Ahmadnagar villages of around 6.30 am. Police was trying to arrest absconding Javed, but it ended up harassing the villagers, especially Muslims and torturing and shaming women.
The raid and search operation lasted for more than three hours. SP Pratapgarh Shogun Gautam himself led the operation with the police force from ten police stations including Kotwali, Antu, Kohdor, Raniganj, Madhanta, Jethwara, Maheshganj and Baghrai.
When a force of around 500 policemen barged into these villages on July 27 morning, it created a huge chaos and fear among the villagers. Although police have claimed that it was purely a search operation but locals are presenting a completely different picture. According to them, the police specifically targeted houses of Muslims. One villager Mohammad Afzal told TwoCircles.net, “It was like they came for vengeance. They left no Muslim house spared, and they almost did not touch houses of people from other religions.”
The time when police entered into the villages, many villagers were still sleeping. Police allegedly entered into the houses through rooftops and backdoors. Moreover, police also pulled people from their houses and made them stand outside of the houses while they were conducting a search operation. This act has given rise to the reports and allegations of looting cash and jewellery coming out from the region.
One of the villagers Shakir Ali has alleged that Police entered his house from back door, then pulled his wife out of the house and started searching inside the almirah. Shakir has reported than when the police has left his house, he found that about 45 thousand rupees, and some jewelry had gone missing from his locker. He suspects the policemen took it.
A fact-finding team of Samajwadi Party leaders had gone to observe the situation. The team’s member Shailendra Yadav aka Lalai told TwoCircles.net, “When we visited there, it was total chaos. People started crying, especially women who have faced the police atrocities most.”
The delegation has accused police of ripping of the clothes of Muslim women. When we tried to confirm the fact, no women came forward. But one local told us, “They did not have any lady constable with them. Only male constables were handling the situation. You are smart enough to think what a force of male constable does to ladies. The same they did to our women.”
The police claim that it had brought a number of women constables with them, but sources inform that only two lady constables were brought with the force of 500 men.
Police did not stop at the raiding. The police also seized 27 two-wheelers, one Innova and one e-rickshaw, all belonging to Muslim community members for allegedly not having supporting documents of their ownerships.
This step has created huge chaos as the vehicles were seized by the police who came to arrest a criminal, and all the vehicle owners had the proper papers. That is why administration had to release all the vehicle in couple of days after the incident.
Around 28 young individuals from the community were beaten by the police during the raid. Allahabad-based Minority Welfare Society met District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police on the same day to record the grievances. The society has alleged the police of carrying out a torture operation, in the name of ‘search operation’.
While SP Pratapgarh Shagun Gautam has denied to all these claims and termed the allegation as “pressure tactics”. He told TwoCircles.net, “I don’t think you believe that police loots money, and beat people. No such thing happened that day. Police had gone to search and arrest, but the wanted fled just a day before. And the man who tipped us off also denied. This all is pressure tactics so that police should not go there again.”