In Kanpur, saga of comments, clashes, unanswered questions
KANPUR: At the edge of the walled city in Kanpur, a hulking red-brick structure called Chandreshwar Hata has stood for more than a century. A cluster of cramped houses, godowns and businesses, the British-era compound has an alley running through it and 70 families sharing cheek-by-jowl homes and walls discoloured by decades of neglect. Outside, the Nai Sadak runs through the heart of the city – a mesh of cycles, scooters and motorbikes, men on carts shouting prices for their wares, labourers walking either to work or back home, cows and buffaloes ambling about, and people making their way to the railway station or the numerous shops that dot the road.
Yet, this benign chaos often descends into violence. Chandreshwar Hata stands between Hindu-majority and Muslimmajority areas of the city, and is one of the only enclaves with a decidedly mixed-faith population. Any communal disturbance leaves a bloody trail here – many of the 12 communal riots that have roiled Kanpur since 1927 were sparked from this spot. It is here that Amit Batham, an employee at a private firm in the city, lived with his five- member family for 60 years. And it is here that the 44- year- old was parking his motorcycle at 2.30pm last Friday when the first brick hit the back of his head. “I was frozen; a brick hit me on my back, another landed on my neck. The crowd was trying to get through the main gate of the compound but somehow, we repulsed them,” he said.
Trouble had been brewing all week. Controversial comments made by BJP spokespersons on Prophet Mohammed had left the local Muslim population seething. A local Muslim activist, Zafar Hayat Hashmi, mobilised people to protest. Shortly after Friday prayers, as Muslim activists forced shops to shut as part of the protest, clashes broke out. In neighbourhood after neighbourhood, bombs were lobbed and shots fired as police struggled to contain the violence – even as President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a meeting just 80km away. “We mobilised additional men, and pushed the crowd back towards Penchbagh. People went in congested and narrow lanes and strategically took position,” said joint commissioner of police Anand Prakash Tiwari, who led the forces. Policemen were trapped in the lanes as bricks rained at them and some shots were fired straight at them by motorcycle riders, said an eyewitness to the violence.
Another eyewitness said a 500 people- strong crowd marched by the place, shouting religious slogans. “A sizeable number of people standing outside countered with their own sets of slogans, setting the stage for a clash,” he added on condition of anonymity, saying the fighting progressed from scuffles to hurling bricks and then to guns and finally tossing bombs. Mukesh Kumar was injured in this clash.
The violence abated after two hours. Forty people were injured, 15 of them policemen. Three FIRs were filed, two from the police side, and one by Kumar. In all, 36 people were named and 1,000 unnamed. A total of 54 have been arrested since, all Muslims, leading to allegations that police were acting in a partisan manner.
Build- up of the clash
At the heart of the protest, and in the police’s version of the alleged conspiracy behind the violence, is a little-known organisation called MM Jauhar Fans Association. Dedicated to the memory of a towering Muslim activist from Rampur, who was once the president of the Congress and the founder of the Muslim League, the body grabbed eyeballs in Kanpur when it organised a 20,000 people-strong protest against the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act in December 2019. As the procession progressed on December 20, it clashed with police in Babupurwa. Four people were killed and 70 injured. Zafar Hayat Hashmi, an activist, is the face of this association, which again mobilised 50,000 people during Covid lockdown in September last year to mark Prophet Mohammed’s birthday. Hashmi was arrested days after on September 19 but was released on bail in two days.
After Sharma’s comments,
Muslim clerics and activists met thrice in Akbar Hall to plan a protest. They decided, said a person who attended two of these meetings, to observe a complete bandh on June 3 and court arrest. “This was modelled on the 2019 procession; people will offer namaz and head from all directions to get arrested at Bada Chauraha,” said this person. Hashmi mobilised people through 141 WhatsApp groups, and videos circulated on social media. On June 2, police called Hashmi and asked him to postpone the protest – due to PM Modi’s visit. “He agreed and got a video of the appeal made outside my office,” said Anwargunj ACP Mohd Akmal Khan. Late evening, Hashmi posted on his Facebook account about the decision.
Yet, WhatsApp chat transcripts reviewed by HT showed that some of his followers allegedly undermined efforts to amplify his appeal and got it deleted. At the same time, they strongly supported the bandh. “Chats clearly establish a pattern: They deceived the police with their promise,” said a senior officer. Another official said that the crowd had no leaders from the Muslim community to tamp down tensions.
But others blamed the police for inaction. “How can a video and a post undo weeks- long build up? Why did the police or administration not try to amplify the deferment call? Both should have issued press releases and ensured the information was covered,” said Tariq Raza Fatimi, an academic. Hashmi’s family concurred. “My husband is being turned into a villain when he is not, he is innocent. He is being framed by police and media,” said his wife Zara Hayat Hashmi.
Role of the police
Questions are also being asked of the police. As Friday prayers ended around 1.30pm, around 20 policemen were sitting at the Sadbhavna police chowki, established to mark communal harmony after the 2001 riots outside Chandreshwar Hata that killed 30 people, said Mohd Waseem Khan, a social activist. As the crowd swelled between 1.30pm and 2pm, police did nothing, said an eyewitness, requesting anonymity. “We could hear the roar of slogans, there was hardly any activity among the cops,” added the eyewitness.
Kanpur police commissioner Vijay Singh Meena contradicted this allegation. “Violence was pre-planned, they (crowd) came on the road suddenly and marched taking everyone by surprise,” he said. But others disagreed. “Why were policemen not moved to disperse the crowd? And why did they allow the crowd to reach the sensitive spot? These are obvious questions that need to be asked along with why the police totally misread the situation,” said former IPS officer Vijay Shankar Singh.
Police have arrested 50 people, one of them a 16-year-old, who surrendered after his photo appeared in the poster of suspects released this week. Shifa Anam, a nursing student, said her brother was arrested when he was coming to pick her up from her nursing college in Kalyanpur. “I was speaking to him on the phone. Police do not have a single video or picture that puts him among the rioters,” she said.
Sana was sleeping when loud knocks on her door in Bakarmandi kabristan woke her up. Ten policemen barged in and showed her a photo of her brother-in-law, Aqib, “I did not know where he was so I said that,” she said. At this point, her husband, Nisar, came out of his room. One of the constables, Sana said, grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out. “Next day, I learnt he was sent to jail with 17 others,” she said. Meena rejected the charges, saying each person was identified through video or surveillance footage. “If anyone has a grievance, they should come to the police and we will look into the case,” he said.
But that may prove tough. Nasir Khan, a local lawyer, said many Muslims were afraid and unwilling to lodge a complaint. “It is going to be a long legal battle,” he added. Fragile peace has returned to Chandreshwar Hata again, as its residents anxiously wait for the next Friday prayers on June 10. Police have clamped prohibitory orders and community leaders appealed for calm. Yet, fear persists. “We are a minority community here, and are constantly living in fear,” said Batham.