Union Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Baliyan said here on Thursday that “eve teasing” of “our women won’t be tolerated in any situation.”
He was speaking to presspersons at the first anniversary of the lynching of the Jat youths Gaurav and Sachin here on August 27, 2013, while they were trying to escape after allegedly killing Shahnawaz of the village, who allegedly eve-teased their sister. The riots that the three killings triggered in Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining Shamli district left over 60 dead and thousands homeless.
“Gaurav and Sachin were like our family members. We would never forget that they sacrificed their lives while protecting their sister,” Mr. Baliyan said.
“You should understand the reasons Shahnawaz was killed and why Gaurav and Sachin died. We have never tolerated eve teasing of our sisters; neither will we tolerate it in future.”
The Minister, then a BJP MLA for the local constituency, attended a mahapanchayat held in September 2013, despite prohibitory orders, that allegedly inflamed tensions. The Uttar Pradesh Police charged him with violation of the ban orders and promoting enmity between two communities. The BJP, however, maintained that he was “framed” by the Samajwadi Party government. In the recent Lok Sabha election, Mr. Baliyan won the Muzaffarnagar seat by a margin of more than four lakh votes.
Even as hundreds of Jats from the nearby villages attended the “havan” ceremony at Malakpura, just a few hundred metres away, Mohammad Salim was commemorating the death of his son, Shahnawaz. The Minister did not visit Shahnawaz’s family.
Mr. Salim’s two sons were arrested in the case related to the killing of the two Jat youths. He spoke of “double standards of justice,” saying the killers of his son were “roaming free.”
District Magistrate Koshal Raj Sharma told The Hindu that 16 companies of paramilitary forces had been deployed, besides the police, for the anniversary.
