A FACT-finding team of Bhumi Adhikar Andolan comprising members of parliament, leaders of kisan organisations, advocates from Supreme Court and senior journalists has, on December 20, visited the family of assassinated police officer Subodh Kumar Singh who was shot and lynched when he was on duty, by a mob led by Bajrang Dal. The team members consoled the family members, his widow Rajani Singh and two sons Shreya Prathap Singh and Abhishek Prathap Singh.
The family members are under severe mental agony and expressed their strong discontent that Subodh Kumar Singh did not get justice and also made strong criticism that he was not protected by the fellow men in uniform and the incident was part of a deep conspiracy to create Hindu-Muslim riot. Under the leadership of Subodh Kumar Singh, police was able to divert the traffic and avoid possible attack on the minorities who were supposed to travel through the highway after Ijtema, a religious conglomeration around 10 km away in which lakhs of believers attended. It is shameful that the local MP who belongs to BJP did not attended the funeral or paid any visit to the bereaved family members of the police officer who had received bravery award. The family members said it was the third attack and he had been injured by bullet in the neck in 2001.
Yogesh Raj, district secretary of Bajrang Dal and the main accused named in the FIR of the murder of a senior police officer has not been arrested even after 17 days and this clearly exposes the political conspiracy and the mindset of the state administration under Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanatha who had stated that the murder was an accident. The law and order situation in UP is under utter disorder. The planned attack on Chingravati police post of Bulandshahar and killing of the police inspector was pre meditated.
Subodh Kumar Singh had investigated the Dadri lynching case in which Mohammed Akhlaq was killed by gaurakshaks, during the period September 28- November 9, 2015 and daring threats from RSS-Bajrang Dal leadership. The forensic test that proved the meat was of mutton was conducted during that period. It is alleged that he was transferred to Varanasi in the context of political pressure in order to dilute the investigation. The family members stated that he was frequently threatened of consequences by Bajrang Dal elements and he had advised the family members to take extreme care and not to go out.
The violence unleashed in the name of the cow is a well-planned attack with a specific aim of targeting the minorities to create communal polarisation in the context of forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Efforts are on to destroy communal harmony for petty political benefits. That a police officer had been targeted and murdered is of severe consequences. It is the responsibility of the administration and the civil society to keep the morale of the police force always high if we have to maintain law and order. In a communally polarised society, minor conflagration can snowball into titanic consequences of killings of thousands of innocent people.
Since the Bulandshahar incident was aimed at spreading hatred and communal polarisation, BAA demands that there should be a judicial inquiry under the supervision of the High Court. BAA also demands the parliament in session to immediately enact a law against lynching, special fast track courts for dealing with lynching cases as directed by Supreme Court, in the context of growing incidents of mob lynching. BAA also demands proper protection for all the investigating officers and their family members dealing with lynching cases. Firm action should be taken against those who have perpetrated this crime.
The fact-finding team comprised Hannan Mollah, general secretary AIKS, Prem Singh Gehlawath (AIKM), Sanjeev Kumar (DSG), Jiten Choudhury, MP (Lok Sabha) KK Ragesh, MP (Rajya Sabha), Adv. Resmitha (Supreme Court), P Krishnaprasad, NK Shukla (AIKS), Vikram Singh (AIAWU), Bharat Sharma, Rajalakshmi, Chanthu and Anjuraj (journalists).
