THE National Human Rights Commission’s report on the so-called exodus of families from Kairana town in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh because of increasing crime is libellous and false as it puts the blame on the Muzaffarnagar riots victims settled in the area without citing any credible and independent evidence.

A group of riots victims living in Kairana, along with some organisations and individuals, have demanded that the NHRC withdraw this libellous and false “investigative” report, tender an apology to the victims of the 2013 communal violence and monitor their safety and security in Kairana.

“We are deeply dismayed and shocked, as findings of this report made public in a Press Release on September 21 are based on dubious facts and makes prejudiced and communally charged assumptions, blaming the very riot-victims it should seek to protect. We, therefore, call upon the NHRC to provide evidence for these ‘findings’ and, failing to do so, to apologise and withdraw this prejudicial report, which amounts to labelling and stigmatising of an entire community,” they said in a statement.

According to the NHRC report, “at least 24 witnesses stated that the youths of the specific majority community (Muslims) in Kairana town pass lewd/taunting remarks against the females of the specific minority community in Kairana town. Due to this, females of the specific minority community (Hindus) in Kairana town avoid going outside frequently. However, they could not gather courage to report the matter to the police for the legal action... Most of the witnesses examined and victims feel that the rehabilitation in 2013 has permanently changed the social situation in Kairana town and has led to further deterioration of law and order situation.”

The riots victims in their statement said, “Blaming desperate riot victims for criminality without citing any credible and independent evidence is unworthy of the NHRC. First, we demand factual evidence of NHRC’s figure of 25,000-30,000 Muslim victims having settled in Kairana town. The communal onslaught in Muzaffarnagar in 2013 had initially displaced over 75,000 Indian citizens. A 2016 report -- Living Apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli – based on detailed ground research, found an estimated 50,000 still scattered all over Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and other districts, of which nearly 30,000 victims were in IDP (internally displaced people) colonies, never able to return home, dealing with traumas from loss of lives, homes, histories, schools, friends, livelihoods and neighbours. Of these, 270 families (approximately 2,000 people) settled in Kairana town.” Kairana was already a Muslim majority town and the addition of mere 2,000 riots victims has not made them “more dominating”.

Declining law and order or criminality in any area may cause people to migrate, and if so, it is the state government’s job to act. But criminality does not have a religion or a community. It is disgraceful for the NHRC to communalise this alleged law and order problem in Kairana town by casually pointing the finger of blame at those who are themselves victims displaced by the Muzaffarnagar violence of 2013.  It is a matter of grave concern that our premier human rights body in a public document should speak so loosely and irresponsibly, based only on what unnamed witnesses said they “feel”, and libel and stigmatise an entire community of Indian citizens as criminals, they said.

“We also seek justification for an NHRC investigation into a discredited issue. Why has it chosen to closely study a list of 346 families supplied by a political party (local BJP MP) with a clear stake in communalising the atmosphere ahead of the UP Assembly polls? The list was falsified after investigation by credible newspapers,” the statement said.

“We are dismayed at the double standards for citizens that the NHRC clearly applies. The large-scale displacement because of communal violence of over 75,000 people from the villages of their birth because of the communal attacks, killings, rape and arson in Muzaffarnagar in 2013 has not resulted in any investigation or actions by the NHRC. Yet, among its recommendations on the so-called exodus of less than 350 people is: constitution of a high-level committee of the Government of UP to meet each of the displaced families from Kairana town now living in districts Dehradun, Panipat, Muzaffarnagar, Roorki, Karnal, etc. of Uttarakhand and Haryana in order to redress their grievances and facilitate their return to Kairana, if so desired.

“We ask what the NHRC did to monitor the rehabilitation of over 75,000 citizens after their violent exodus from Muzaffarnagar in 2013, and if the NHRC ever proposed a similar high-level committee to meet each of the displaced families to redress their grievances and facilitate their return?” they said in the statement, released on September 29.