NEW DELHI: The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) published a report on Jan.12, holding the police responsible for the violent incidents that claimed at least 19 lives in East Delhi’s Seelampur, five days after the Babri Masjid demolition.

“The events of Dec, 11 cannot be described as a ‘not’ between members of the two communities. It appears like a well-planned police operation, joined by some BJP/Congress activists and local goondas, which was singularly, targeted on the Muslim residents of the Timber Market and Kabutar Market localities of Welcome Colony,” the PUCL report said.

The PUCL challenged the police to come clean and demanded a judicial enquiry into the violent incidents.

The PUCL report is based on firsthand information collected from the spot by its Delhi until members Dr.Anup Saraya, Satyendm Ranjan and SehjoSingh. Senior PUCL, activists, including Justice V.M.Tarkunde, Justice Rajinder Sachar, Dr.RM.Pal, the editor of the PUCL bulletin and Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi, also talked to PUCL president Justice Sachar.

The PUCL report also says that there has been direct involvement of the local police in the violence committed against the minority community m Welcome Colony. “The organized mob, aided and abetted by the police, ran amok, indulging in loot, arson and killing of Muslim residents in these localities. The affected areas considered it as an attack, primarily by the police,” the PUCL report said.

The report also claimed that there was no evidence for the police story about the murder of a constable and snatching of his stengun, as is purported to have happened on Dec.10 in Welcome Colony, triggering off a notoriously violent house to house search. The report also cites specific instances of police “brutality” afterwards.

The Welcome and Janata Colonies in Seelampur had remained clam for five days after the demolition of the Babri masjid, the report pointed out, though there was violence in Jaffrabad right across the road. It was the police action that precipitated the trouble.

On the morning of the 7th, mobs in Jaffrabad processed against the demolition by setting on fire three emptied transport buses. This was immediately followed by a firing with “no warning,” the report said. Though the police claimed that a constable was stabbed in the melee, they “refused to give any information, the PUCL alleged in the report.

This was followed by rumors that some criminal elements from Jaffrabad had entered into the Welcome and Janata Colonies and the tension was palpable. According to the report, it was also rumored that some local goons were “preparing” for action in the area. However, no curfew was imposed here as in Old Delhi or certain other parts of East Delhi.

On the night of Dec.10, news came to the Muslim community that a meeting had been held at the residence of a local Lala to plan an attack on the mosque. Local goondas, many of them with alleged Congress or BJP links, also attended the meeting, the report points out.

Ironically, the police chose to prevent the Muslims from putting up black flags of protest at their houses, instead of stopping the jubilant local ‘kar sevaks’ who were brandishing bricks from the demolished Babri Masjid, the report said.

On the night of Dec.10, throwing, accompanied by riotous noises” in Welcome Colony. The communities blame each other for the trouble. However, the report says the community elders tried to keep the situation under control.

The PUCL says “The impression we gathered was that the police instigated this riotous incident and deliberately spread false rumors about Muslims aggression.”

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 22, 1993