Bulandshahr horror: Bawaria leaders challenge police claim
Members of Bawaria community have challenged the police claim that Saleem, the main accused in Bulandshahr highway gang rape case, is a member of their tribe.
They are consulting lawyers to challenge the police claim in the court. Soon, their delegation may also meet chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to officially lodge their protest. They said that Saleem was a Muslim while Bawarias were hardcore Hindus. Puncturing the police theory, Bawaria Samaj Kalyan Samiti president Dheer Dhwaj and general secretary Harjeet Singh said Saleem cannot be a Bawaria.
“Bawarias are hardcore Hindus. The elderly members of the community are averse to taking even a glass of water from a Muslim,” claimed octogenarian Puran Singh who got retired from Army in 1990.
However, according to the police, the gang rape victims have identified Saleem as an accused and 11 teams are currently carrying out raids for the last six days to nab him. The police also claimed that Saleem belonged to Bawaria community and hailed from Gangoh in Saharanpur district. He has a reward of `15,000 on his head. Though Saleem has been operating in the area for some years, this is the first time the enraged community is protesting over the tribe’s name being dragged into the controversy. May be because none of the incidents drew such a public attention as the highway gang rape case.
Over 15,000 inhabitants, mostly Bawarias inhabit 12 villages in Jhinjhana area of Shamli. Their ancestors had moved from Rajasthan about 300 years back to settle in this cluster of villages in Shamli.
They had even formed Bawaria Samaj Kalyan Samiti in 1974 with the support of the then district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar Yogendra Narayan Mathur.
The members also expressed their anger and disgust over the fact that the entire community was being disgraced for the wrongdoings of a few people. “We have been facing this humiliation since the times of the Mughals and the British. Unfortunately, the same situation prevails even 65 years after Independence”, said former village head Sher Singh. Since then many in their community have joined varied sectors including Indian Army and police.
General secretary of Bawaria Samaj Kalyan Samiti Harjeet Singh claimed that the condition of the community had improved in the past few decades after they were included in the Scheduled Castes in 1952.
“Many of our people are now in police, government jobs, carrying out farming on their small pieces of land and also doing business to earn their livelihood and live a dignified life,” he said.
Members of the community also staged a protest on Wednesday against the attempts to defame Bawaria community by terming it as gang. They handed over a memorandum to the district magistrate of Shamli challenging the claim of the police.
Leaders of the community claimed that police were trying to conceal facts and were hiding their failure by claiming the involvement of Bawaria community in the crime.
Senior sub-inspector, Jhinjhana, Satyapal Singh agreed that Bawarias were Hindus and added that he was yet to come across a Muslim Bawariya. Head constable Braham Giri of Ahmadgarh police outpost in a village of Bawarias also held a similar view.
SSP, Bulandshahr, Anees Ansari rubbished the charges and said that in past the police have arrested several members of Bawariya gangs who had Muslim names.