SHIKARPUR (UP): In what seems to be a reply on the Mehrana killings, two Muslim youths were lynched in this dusty township 22kms from Bulandshahr town, recently, for allegedly raping a teenage Hindu girl.

An element of confusion has been added to the killings by vanned statements of the members of the two communities. The police have only added to it by the casual way in which they are treating the ghastly incident.

While the Hindus said that the two youths. Both Ilyas were beaten to death, and then one of the bodies set on fire by an enraged mob after they were caught raping a Hindu girl, the Muslims question the very existence of a girl in the macabre drama.

The only inkling that the lynching’s could have been a reenactment of the Mehrana killings were casual statements like the one made by an old man whose house is hardly away from the site of the lynching, “ab hume pata nahi hai ki balatkar hua ki ladki khud gayi thi.” (Youths had raped the girl or the girl had willingly gone along.)

Justified says Hindus.

Two days after the gory killings, the only sign that such an incident had taken place was the charred spot next to a field in Badkot mohalla where Ilyas (25), son of Aminuddin, was burnt after being beaten to death. Hindu youths of the locality justified the lynching of the two youths, one not yet out of his teens.

What should we do if one of our girls is being raped,” asked one of them. According to the Hindus, the two Ilyas had raped the girl when she had gone to the fields to relieve herself. “We heard her scream. There were three of them. One of them managed to escape but we caught the other two.” He refused to talk any further or name himself.

Attempts to locate the girl and her family proved fruitless. No Hindu was ready to talk and the Muslims claimed that there was no girl involved. Ladki ka toh bahana hai, said one ina group in the Muslim area of Badkot Mohalla, marne ka asli karan toh dusra hai, (the girl is just an excuse, the real motive for the killings is something else).

Property dispute?

The Muslims claim the youths were killed on the order of a wealthy landlord of the locality. According to them, this landlord was involved in a longstanding property dispute with Ilyas Aminuddin, who was running a saw-mill which shared a common boundary wall with the landlord’s palatial three-story house.

Ilyas Aminuddin’s father said his son and his friend, Ilyas (17) had gone to his Hindu client’s in the Hindu section of the locality to discuss some business matter. According to him, his son was waylaid hardly a 100 meters from his saw-mill and beaten to death and then his body was burnt.

The other Ilyas, who tried to escape was chased and beaten. But fearing that the police would arrive, his body was taken away by the miscreants. The police found the body nearby. The youth’s parents insist that the killings were carried out on the orders of the landlord. They refuse to accept that their son raped a Hindu girl or was even involved with one.

The Muslims also allege that a prominent political leader of the area was openly backing the killers. This leader, they said, also tuned to create tension when the body of one of the victims was being taken for burial on Monday. Like the Hindus, the Muslims too were ready to answer questions but none of them were willing to name themselves.

But this reluctance to reveal their identity did not stop some of the younger ones in Badkot Mohalla’s Muslim section from promising to avenge the killings at an “appropriate time”. One young man pointed toward the PAC picket stationed nearby and said. “They are the ones who are holding us back now, but let them go…

“In fact, “said one of them, “we would have retaliated on Sunday night itself. But most of us were out celebrating. Id-ul-Zuha and there were only old men and women in the Mohalla when the killings took place.

“Till Monday evening it was touch and go,” said the additional SP. Mr Krishan Mohan Pande. But for once the police acted swiftly. Reinforcements, including of the PAC, were sent to the township immediately after news of the incident was relayed to the authorities.

But while the police did a good job in not allowing the incident to snowball into a full-scale communal riot, they also gave the impression that they were hiding facts by their casual attitude towards the killings, Mr Pande and his men were more interested in discussing the implications of the installation of the new government in UP than the crime in their jurisdiction.

The SP does not give straight answers when asked whether the youths had indeed raped the girl. He was not even sure whether the girl was examined after the incident or not. And he refused to name the five men who were arrested for the lynching. “Both parties have filed FIRs, the Muslims on Sunday night itself and the Hindus on Monday, and we are still investigating”, he said.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 5, 1991