POLICE violence committed on the residents of Muzaffarnagar on December 20, Friday prayer day, biased treatment meted out to the victims of police violence in respect of the registration of first information reports and complaints by the state and district level administration of Uttar Pradesh, and lack of medical attention to injured is under discussion in the national and international media.
Dinesh Abrol (Delhi Science Forum) and Subir Banerjee (Delhi state CPIM) visited the town area of Muzaffarnagar on December 28, 2019 to meet the victims of police atrocities and to hear from them about the atrocities committed by the government of Yogi Adityanath. We met several victims of the state violence and talked to the local leaders namely Narenderpal and Saiduzzaman of Congress, Pramod Tyagi of SP, Shyamvir Rathi of CPI(M) and Shahnawaz of CPI. They had gone to Muzaffarnagar as members of the ‘peace and fact-finding team’, formed at the initiative of Karawan Mohabbat. The team included Harsh Mander, John Dayal, Tanika Sarkar, Dinesh Abrol, Subir Banerjee, Kavita Krishnan, Navsharan, Lali Vachani, Natasha and several young activists. While the full report of this team is under preparation, preliminary findings based on the narratives of victims, activists and leaders are briefly stated in this article.
Protests of December 20 had been announced by some of the local organisations active among the Muslim community in the town of Muzaffarnagar. In the district of Muzaffarnagar the state administration had imposed Section 144 of the CrPC. Notices had been issued to panchayats’ sarpanch to prevent the people from joining the protest of December 20. These disturbing developments were provocative for the people interested to protest after the Friday prayers. Provocative campaign on social media was unleashed by BJP RSS linked individuals and organisations. The atmosphere of suspicion prevailed. In addition, there were also 25-30 persons with faces covered moving around in the city and police did not stop them from roaming around freely. All of these developments also added to the buildup of tension in the town area. Fifty per cent of population of Muzaffarnagar belongs to Muslim communities. After Friday prayers of December 20, 2019, at Meenakshi Chowk the protests had passed off peacefully till 3.00 pm.
Protests of December 20, 2019 took an ugly turn only after 4.00 pm. Around 2.30 pm a group of persons, known to be associated with Sanjeev Baliyan, the local BJP MP, had targeted a mosque and damaged its premises, which also added to the tensions. Further the people told us that the presence of Sanjeev Baliyan and his followers at the sites of protest played an active role in the stand-off between police and protestors at Meenakshi Chowk. In the district of Muzaffarnagar, Sanjeev Baliyan is seen as a polarising figure and known for his communal statements and also for organising violence. There was no reason from him to be there, when both the police and civil society members were making efforts to prevent the escalation. The growing standoff between protestors and police was still very much under control. A young girl meeting an accident, attributed to a police vehicle running over her feet, was the trigger of the escalation of altercations between police and protestors. At Meenakshi Chowk a section of the rally without a leader was allowed to proceed towards Mahavir Chowk by the police. Close to 90 shops belonging to minority community were targeted around the site of protest by the miscreants associated with the BJP-RSS, who were freely walking on the streets. Muzaffarnagar witnessed the incidents of violence on December 20 at Madina Chowk, Kachchi Sadak and Meenakshi Chowk (Khalapad area).
Noor Mohammad (26 years) had been shot. Hospitals of Muzaffarnagar denied admission to Noor Mohammad. Noor Mohamad died on the way to Meerut hospital. Noor Mohammad’s wife has a child of 17 months. She is also pregnant. She has no financial back up. There has been no help from the state administration for the family of Noor Mohammad. He was the sole earning member in this family. Under the UP government the bias does not end. The scale of violence perpetrated by police is a horrific story. The UP government is trying to teach a lesson to the community because they have dared to peacefully protest against CAA and NRC on the streets of Muzaffarnagar. Street lights were put off in the town area. Police and RAF were marching in several areas of the city.
Evidences obtained by the fact-finding team suggest that the UP police, PAC, RAF were not marching to calm the people. The police personnel became the rioters. They targeted and thrashed Muslim homes. Shops were broken open and looted. The operation of destruction by UP police and RAF started atSarvat road after 10.30 pm in the night with street lights switched off by local administration. The UP police, RAF and the goondas of BJP RSS as their accomplices telling “Muslims should leave India”, “they will be thrown out of India”, “do not damage the floors and walls, all of this will one day belong to us”, is also a very important part of the horrible story still unfolding in the district of Muzaffarnagar.
At Jaswant Puri the team members saw with their own eyes and have recorded the impact of abuse and torture, violence, arson and loot committed by the personnel of police and RAF who had BJP-RSS goondas as accomplices at the homes of relatively well-off Muslims on Sarvat Road area. The team saw a disturbing picture of destruction of furniture, sanitary fittings, shelves and crockery, at the three-story home of Hazi Hamid. Every piece of furniture was destroyed. Hazi owns a saw mill where he had prepared himself the furniture to give the same to the granddaughters at the time of their marriage fixed for February 4, 2020. Furniture had been destroyed by nobody else but by the police and RAF personnel. Rs 5.5 lakh of cash and ornaments looted from his home, Sajid the younger son of Hazi arrested, tell a repugnant story of revenge of UP government on the Muslims. A 14-year minor child, forced to sign that ‘Sajid uncle’ had a rifle, was writhing in pain because he had been beaten blue all over his legs and arms. Abdul Qadir, elder brother of Sajid was fortunate to escape the wrath of police because granddaughters had locked him in the bathroom. One of the granddaughters, a young girl to be married off in February was hit on the head by an iron rod by the police. No one was ready to give her medical attention in the city of Muzaffarnagar. Scooters in use by grand daughters were destroyed. The elder son, Abdul Qadir went for help to DM office in Muzaffarnagar. He even complained to DIG in Saharanpur about the arrest of his brother and the detention of his son by the police. No help came for his family from any of these offices. Panic was written on the face of family members when the team met them on December 28.
The UP police and RAF accompanied by the goondas of BJP-RSS had also repeated the same story at the house of Intessar in Ped Wali Gali by 11.20 / 11.40 pm. Intessar is a social worker of high repute of the area. Not a single plate or cup or shelf had been left in one piece. Each and every piece of furniture was broken. The blue cap, chappal and gandasa left at this house also tell quite clearly who were responsible for violence. UP Police and RAF went house to house in ward no 22 between 12.30 -1.00 am to loot and destroy shops and homes. More than 50 houses and shops were looted by the police personnel. They called Muslims by the abuse Katua. They had made them shout Jai Shri Ram. They had beaten badly many of the residents. Cash looted and ornaments taken away. One of the Masjids was damaged at ward 22.  Abdul Karim of Kanji House Gali also subjected to same kind of damage. Pulled the iron gate and broke open the windows. He is a trader/dealer in shoe business. Rs7 lakh worth jewellery was taken away. He is also a popular person in the area. Sabak(lesson) was taught to richer Muslim homes. Male police and RAF tortured women and girls and children of the house in Darziwali Gali is again a story of revenge being taken by police on innocents. Hazi Anwar, who is 75 years old, has three sons. His 11 years old grandchild Sageer had a bullet in his neck. He has been admitted in AIIMS, Delhi. He has lost his speech. Issar Munir Asad beaten with iron rod and left with fan on in the room after beating him blue on a cold winter night, all of these disturbing stories of Muzaffarnagar need to be inquired into.
More than 2,000 were arrested, only a few of them have been released. Several are still under detention. Forty two students picked up from Madrasa by the UP police. Police and RAF kept on shouting that you are making criminals at the madrasa.

Under the Yogi rule the police have turned into rioters, acting directly as perpetrators of violence at the homes of Muslims, teaching them a lesson, are the distinguishing features of the operation carried out by police. Masked people shown on TV, rioting against the minority community, are apparently the supporters of BJP-RSS.  There is a fear among the Muslim communities that the young and old who are innocent will now be picked up by the police to actually save the real perpetrators of arson, loot and state violence. Trust in the state institutions is lost. Revenge of Yogi was realised by targeting of the innocents, it could be seen that the rioters were UP police and their BJP-RSS accomplices. The Muslims of Muzaffarnagar were not the rioters. The team was reminded that under the leadership of CPI(M), CPI, SP and civil society groups on December 19 without any violence smaller meetings had successfully taken place against CAA and NRC. The BJP-RSS ilk wanted violence on December 20 because this time they were not successful in creating riots.
The town of Muzaffarnagar has a glorious history of Hindu-Muslim unity shown in the struggles of farmers of the district. A memorial established in the memory of Hindu and Muslim protestors exists at the Shaheed Chowk. Protestors who lost their lives belonged to ‘Hindu’ as well as ‘Muslim’ communities and had lost their lives in the course of a jointly carried out struggle by Hindus and Muslims against forced sterilizations during Emergency in 1976. The team was reminded that the town area had remained calm and did not see violence in the 2013 even when the clashes took place between the sections of ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ communities in Muzaffarnagar district in the rural areas. In 2013 clashes, there were at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus, 93 injured and more than 50,000 displaced. Therefore, the fear written on the face of Mufti running the madrasa is understandable.  At the home of ex-MP of Congress, Saiduzzaman and formed home minister of UP state, the team saw with its own eyes the evidence left of destruction of vehicles. Loot and abuse, repeated time and again, with the aim to create fear among the Muslims for all the time to come, is a distinguishing feature of the incidents of state violence; this time in Muzaffarnagar. Saiduzzaman was not willing to openly speak to the team about who could have attacked his vehicles. The innocent Muslims of Muzaffarnagar are paying a heavy price for daring to protest is quite clear.