Hundreds of Muslims have returned to the village, after the communal violence on May 25 compels them to flee from the village, but eddy of worries for the Muslims prevailed after a section of the dominant Jat community in the village approached a Faridabad court on Friday, seeking a stay on the construction of the mosque.
The riot victims returned only on Wednesday after being assured that their demands ‘the arrest of accused of rioting and reconstruction of the mosque’ would be met.
Muslims villagers on Friday said “though there was heavy police deployed in Atali, the fear of another attack had not yet been banished from our minds”.
“We are busy rebuilding our homes and lives. Ramzan is only a few weeks away and we would like to start the construction of the mosque’s walls, so that there is a place for us to pray.
But some mischievous elements who seem to be dissatisfied and have again gone to the court of the CJM, Ballabhgarh claiming that the land belongs to the Panchayat, though the elders of the Jat community had approached the Muslims and assured them of their cooperation in building the mosque.
The riot, which saw 2,000 heavily armed men selectively burn and vandalize Muslim homes, was apparently triggered by a long contest over the ownership of a piece of land. While the Jat community maintains that the disputed land belongs to the gram panchayat, while Muslims say it was Waqf land.
A team consisting of Khudai Khidmatgar, PUCL and Socialist Party led by Justice Rajinder Sachar (Retd) visited the village on Friday and found the situation to be still unresolved.
Some people have gone to court, but we are taking all possible measures to ensure that there is no further flare up,” said Subhash Yadav, commissioner of police Faridabad.