Forty members of seven Muslim families left Upaida village in Hapur district after a communal clash last week. A small fight between the youth of two communities escalated, leaving four members of the minority community injured.
Despite heavy police deployment and officials’ assurance of safety, the 40 Muslims are yet to come back to the village.
According to Zakir, a resident of Upaida, a small fight took place two weeks ago between two youngsters. Last Wednesday Shaqib, Sohail, Sabu and Sameer were attacked by a group of youngsters involved in the earlier fight.
According to the police complaint, on March 29, when some Muslim youngsters were coming home, four young men started teasing and abusing them. When they protested, they were assaulted.
“The four accused followed them home and continued the assault. Four persons, including two women, were injured,” said Sabir, another resident of the village.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ajay Shrivastava reached the village on Friday night, and appealed to the affected families to ask those members who left to return.
“Some people in the village are trying to disturb the peace. Had the police been proactive, this would not have snowballed into a clash, forcing women and children of the affected families to leave,” Mr. Zakir told the media. Saleem, another resident, said that since the Adityanath government came to power some people were trying to create fear among Muslims.
Under control
Yathendra Singh, who is in charge of the Babugarh police station, under which Upaida falls, told the media that the situation in the village was “under control”. as the police was trying to provide security to the affected family. "I must say that situation is under control. There is no violence.
“Women and children belonging to the affected families, left the village to stay with relatives in the neighbourhood. But we are trying to get them to return,” he added.
Kamal Singh Malik, MLA, said the charge that Muslim families were forced to leave the village was “wrong”.
