Dadri: The Dadri incident shook the entire nation and prompted us to ask- Is this India of which Mahatma Gandhi dreamt?
After any communal violence the last and the only hope for the victims are the government administration and police. Gujarat in 2002 and Bhagalpur in 1989 are two uncommon examples that show us how provocation and incident if not managed can turn into disastrous massacres and the role state and police play in events.
On 2nd October SDM of Dadri, Rajesh Kumar has threatened the family of “dire consequences if you speak out”.
A team of social activists from Jamia Nagar, New Delhi led by Asna Nousheen were at the victim’s house when this incident took place.
Tahseen a social activist from Jamia Nagar narrated over the phone-
A man in white shirt came with few policemen, we thought him to be a political leader as the room was small we came out. Suddenly I heard the man instructing the relatives of Akhlaq-”Don’t speak out much; if not then you will face dire consequences. Why you are not allowing BJP people to come? Let them come, meet them and talk to them.”
When we heard this we were shocked and asked him, who are you? He didn’t reply, and then we asked a policeman escorting him. He replied-He is SDM Saab. When our team started asking-What authority you have to command them? He hurriedly moved towards his car. The policemen surrounded him and he left.
Now the policemen started threatening us and asked-who we were? They searched us, checked our ID card and mobile phones including the pictures and if we have recorded anything.
Asna when contacted on phone narrated-What I felt shocking was, a government machinery and someone who is representing the government have come to a family who have lost a husband and their son is battling life and death and in that pain the SDM tells them “don’t speak out much or else face consequences “ we were shocked that instead of protecting them he was threatening them.
The social activists from Jamia Nagar followed SDM towards the main road.
After ten minutes a group of more than ten policemen came in the house and started talking with family members. I tried to get in but was not allowed by policemen, they started the conversation. I stood near the entrance of door and tried to listen, the policeman started narrating the story about the misbehavior done to SDM by those activists and slander about them .The entire picture presented by the police before the family was-“they were anti-social elements trying to create a tensed atmosphere.”
In this tense communal situation one can imagine the mental stress and emotional state of the victim’s family. They don’t want to have trouble with the police and in situation where there are just two Muslim houses at the place of incident. They are under police protection and don’t want to speak against them.
After the meeting was ended by a gesture by a policeman, Jaan Muhammad a relative of Akhlaq, gave an interview to some news channels present and said that-SDM is cooperating and the people who misbehaved towards SDM were neither from village nor from family.(Till now it isn’t available on YouTube) This is how this incident ended.
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