Who killed Mudassir and Sahil. Will there be Justice ?
Who killed Mudassir and Sahil. Will there be Justice ?
The two young boys were killed in Ranchi while protesting against the denigration of Prophet Muhammad. Family holds state responsible.
In the last ten days, seventeen West Asian countries have criticized India over the denigration of Prophet Muhammad by the Indian state and by extension the anti-Muslim hate in India. While the Modi government suspended its spokespersons and called the episode an aberration in its response to the Gulf nations, back home young Muslim lives paid the price of protesting. A searing report by independent journalist Mohammad Sartaj Alam who spoke to family members and witnesses.
Rana Ayyub
On 10th June, Muslims across the country protested against the denigration of the Prophet Muhammad by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the hate language against Muslims by leaders of the ruling Narendra Modi government. In Ranchi, similar protests took place with locals chanting ‘Islam Zindabad’ post the Friday prayers.
According to locals, a message was circulated on WhatsApp groups that Nupur Sharma's effigy would be burnt at Firayalal Chowk after Friday prayers at the Iqra mosque.
After offering Friday prayers, some Muslim groups proceeded towards Firayalal Chowk (the heart of Ranchi, which is the most prominent marketplace in the city. This area is also famous for burning effigies), located at a distance of 500 meters from Iqra Masjid.
The Muslim youth were seen moving towards Firayalal Chowk from Iqra Masjid to protest. The Imam of the mosque and the other administrators asked for the crowd to disperse. But many from local areas had already converged at the Chowk, which is a stone's throw distance from the government offices.
As per an eyewitness, Firoz Alam, “When the protestors started moving towards Firayalal Chowk, many of them passed through the 'Daily Bazaar' Police Station area. Few youngsters managed to walk ahead while the police tried to stop the rest. As they approached the Hanuman Mandir taxi stand, eyewitnesses allegedly saw a local Hindutva leader, Bhairav Singh, who was on the temple premises with men in saffron clothes and flags, armed with deadly weapons like rifles and pistols.”
Parents of 15 year old Mudassir who was shot dead
Firoz also happens to be the uncle of the deceased protestor, Mudassir, a fifteen-year-old teenager shot in cold blood in a now-viral video when he is seen chanting ‘Islam Zindabad’.
Mudassir has written the 10th examination this year from the Jharkhand Academic council, the result will be published in the coming week.
In precisely thirty seconds, a bright young boy dressed in a black kurta, voicing a slogan against hate, was reduced to a corpse as his body lay motionless on the road. Protestors started screaming, “He is dead, ‘He is dead.” His body splattered across the street, the testimony of the murder meant to silence dissent.
Firoz, the eyewitness, said, “Bhairav Singh was present on the temple's terrace along with his associates. As soon as they saw the Muslim youth marching on the streets, they started pelting stones. In response, the Muslim boys retaliated with stones. Meanwhile, my nephew Mudassir Alam screamed 'Islam Zindabad', and in the reaction, he was shot in the forehead and fell to the ground. Who fired the bullet is a matter of investigation, but at that time, apart from the police, the firing was also being done from the temple premise, where Bhairav Singh was present."
Bhairav Singh, who allegedly led this violence, is the same criminal who attacked Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in January 2021. He was arrested for the same by Ranchi Police and was given bail after 200 days of incarceration. If locals are to be believed, Bhairav Singh has the patronage of the state Bharatiya Janata Party administration. . When we asked the local Daily Market police station, they refused to comment about Bhairav Singh. (Givehttps://smart.livehindustan.com/ranchi/news/jharkhand-cm-hemant-soren-convoy-attack-main-accused-bhairav-singh-welcome-posters-81627546030779.html
When this journalist spoke to Amol Homkar, the IG Operations, who is also the spokesperson of Jharkhand Police, about the stone pelting and firing from the temple premises, he said, "No such thing came up in the investigation, but our investigation is on."
Cops in Ranchi, firing at protestors
According to Muslim activist Shamim Ali, “No Muslim organisation had called for closing shops in Ranchi. In such a situation, how did Muslim youth from different areas of Ranchi reach Firayalal Chowk in large numbers after Friday’s prayer? Why didn't the local police attempt to either stop the protest, speak to the youth, or have any prior information about the protest in their areas? If they had been stopped then and there, two young lives would not have been lost”
Rameez, a local journalist, and also an eyewitness who was covering the protest post the Friday prayers, said, "I saw no warnings, no lathi-charge, no rubber bullet was used for crowd control. So it is yet to be investigated why direct firing was done and on whose orders? All we know is the police opened fire on the crowd, a few died, and a large number of people were injured.”
When I asked IG Amol Homkar about firing bullets instead of using rubber bullets of lathis, his answer was vague. “Whatever action has been taken, it was done to protect life and property, and the procedure was followed properly by the police.”
The two youth who died due to firing were buried in the local cemetery by their families. Fifteen-year-old Mudassir Alam was one of them. His family lives in a rented house in the Hindpiri locality of Ranchi. His father, Parvez Alam, was in an impoverished local area called Simdega on work when Mudassir was shot. He rushed to Ranchi as the news broke. His mother Nikhat is inconsolable, "Mudassir was my only son. Due to the financial crisis and poverty, we could not educate him properly. He worked with his father to run the household. My son was such a lovely boy. Why did they shoot at him? What was his fault?"
Nikhat is unconscious very often. She stares at the ceiling with a blank gaze. She is surrounded by relatives who tell her that her son died fighting for justice. She listens to them and then breaks down again. ‘My son was a little boy, are they so hardened that they treated my kid like a terrorist? How could they bring themselves to shoot him? Who fires at a child ?”
Neither the cops, the state, nor the country's government has an answer for Nikhat. Her eyes are now blank. She wants to believe that the events of the last twenty-four hours are a nightmare, but it is a reality that will haunt Nikhat for life.
Mudassir's elder uncle Mohammad Shahid said, "The policemen were allegedly firing with modern assault rifles and pistol. They should have fired in the air, but the police opened fire by targeting the protesters on their faces. You can see the videos. Many videos of this are going viral. Will the courts take suo moto cognisance ?"
Shahid’s allegations could not be confirmed.
Shahid added, "Mudassir or any of the protesters were neither terrorists nor extremists. Why did the police fire at them? Who gave the order to fire like this? Poison has been spread inside the country, and our police have become communal. Our nephew died due to the communal poison that is festering in the country. On social media and on our news channels, our children who were slaughtered are being called stone-pelters.”
Twenty-four-year-old Sahil Ansari also fell victim to the indiscriminate bullets by the state. According to the hospital authorities, he was shot near the kidney. Therefore, he could not be saved. He was bleeding profusely.
His 26-year-old brother Mohammad Shoaib is an auto mechanic. He says, “At the time of the incident, I was working in the workshop. After my brother's death, I heard from an eyewitness that the policemen were allegedly firing with AK 47, one policeman was firing in the air, and the other was firing directly at the crowd. During this, my brother got shot and died. I have also heard that a local Bhairav Singh was allegedly firing from the temple. At this point, I know nothing. I want to know from the Ranchi Police and the Indian government, will my brother's murderers get justice, will we ever know the events leading to their murder ?”
SSP Ranchi, SK Jha told this journalist, “Twenty-five FIRs have been registered so far. In these FIRs, a case has been registered against twenty-two named people and hundreds of unknown people, but no arrests so far,”
When the question about the allegations against Bhairav Singh was asked, SSP Ranchi said, "We are not taking anyone's name, whatever the facts are, we have accepted it, we will get the investigation done. If any person is involved and the name of the particular person comes up and is found guilty, action will be taken against him. But if someone spreads such rumors for hatred, then I will not accept it.”
On whose orders did the firing take place, and was the rubber bullet used before firing? Giving an unconvincing answer to this question, the SSP replied, “The situation was terrible, you have to accept this, the force knew how dire the situation was, after using tear gas, when they must have felt that it is difficult to handle the situation, then it has been done. Even I was caught in stone-pelting. I was also injured.”
Since the tenth of June, continuous efforts have been made by the families of the deceased to register an FIR. But the 'Daily Bazaar' station in charge was not ready to register an FIR at any cost, says the family. In the case of deceased Sahil, after the initiative of newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP, Mahua Majhi, the police station accepted the application.
Whereas the family of the deceased Mudassir struggled all of 12th June to register an FIR in the police station. Finally, at the request of local Muslim scholars, social workers and organizations like Anjuman Islamia, the 'Daily Bazar police station' in charge accepted the application given by Mudassir's father, Parwez Alam, on the evening of 12th June. But the police station did not provide any update about the sections under which FIR was going to be registered or even comment if the police station would register an FIR.
In the written application submitted by the family, Bhairav Singh and his associates are mentioned as accused as they were allegedly fired from the temple premises. It has been said in the application that due to continuous firing from the roof of the temple from one side and police officers shooting on the other side, one bullet hit the head of Mudassir, who died on the spot.
It has been three days. There is an eerie silence in the chowk. The family, meanwhile, is waiting for answers and accountability for the dead. As the Indian state demolishes houses of activists who have raised their voices for justice, this murder the family believes might just be washed away.
 | A guest post by
|