The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over complaints alleging the exodus of families of a particular religion from Kairana town in Western U.P. due to “fear of criminals” belonging to another community. Kairana is in the communally-sensitive Shamli district adjoining Muzaffarnagar and less than two hours drive from New Delhi.
In notices to the State Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan and Director General of Police Javeed Ahmed, the NHRC sought their response within four weeks. According to complaints received by the NHRC, about 250 families have allegedly “left their homes and migrated out of fear of criminals who enjoy political patronage.”
Observing that the allegations were “serious in nature,” the NHRC also directed its DIG (investigation) to depute a team of officers for a spot enquiry in the matter covering all the allegations made in the complaint and submit a report within two weeks. “According to the complaint dated June 10, 2016, a woman belonging to Kashyap caste was abducted, gang-raped and killed, yet no action has been taken by the police against the offenders. Two of the businessmen, Shankar and Raju, both brothers, were shot dead by the criminals in broad daylight in the market when they did not pay protection money to the criminals,” the NHRC said in a statement.
No police complaint
A petrol pump was also lootedand when the police took on criminals, they shot dead a constable and managed to flee, the complaint said. Saharanpur Range DIG A.K Raghav, however, was quoted by a local Hindi daily as saying that the police did not receive any such complaint but would inspect the ground to authenticate facts.
The BJP has, meanwhile, termed the alleged migration as persecution of Hindus by the minority community and started a campaign on it. The party will send a delegation of senior leaders to Kairana for inspection and stage a protest, BJP State president Keshav Maurya said.
In a six-point query to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mr. Maurya asked him if the State was unable to “provide security and justice” to members of the majority community.
The controversy came into light when recently BJP MP from Kairana and former Union Minister Hukum Singh claimed there was a mass exodus of Hindu families from the town over the past two years. He also produced before media a list of “346 families” that fled the town leaving behind their homes and property after being allegedly targeted and persecuted by another community. The town had become a “new Kashmir,” alleged Mr. Singh, who also claimed he met Union Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the matter.
