Terming the Nargund murderas a consequence ofsystematic forms of automised and targeted violence against Muslims fuelled by hate speeches, a fact-finding team of Bahutva Karnataka, whichvisited the town, has demanded fair investigation, strong police action and requisite compensation to the victims.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Friday, members of the team Shabeer Ahmed, Siddharth Joshi, Mohammed Irshad, Akash Bhattacharya andRajendran Narayanan said that during their visit, inquiry and interaction with various people, it was found that young Muslim boys belonging to economically backward sections were targeted by the members of Sangh Parivar with specific intent to create fear among the minority community for the last several months.
“And the silence of the governing dispensation emboldened the rowdy elements of the Sangh Parivar, finally leading to the murder of Sameer Shahpur, while Shamseer Khan suffered grievous injuries,” they said.
Elaborating on the sequence of events that led to the murder of one youth, while an attempt was made on the life of another, Mr. Ahmed said that in the last two years there have been a steady rise in instances of hate speeches and harassment of Muslims.
“In the last week of November last year, Azim, a college student, was beaten up by what he said members of Bajrang Dal. A few days after that incident, a 17-year-student of Siddeshwar Government College Zayed was taken out of his classroom by a mob comprising members of the ABVP and beaten up. When he rushed to the principal’s chamber to protect himself, the mob assaulted him there also. Zayed’s uncle, who came to the college, was manhandled and was told that Zayed had violent tendencies. Our repeated attempts to meet the principal of the college failed,” he said.
Mr. Joshi said that Arbaaz, a class IX student, was beaten up on the government school premises by members of the ABVP, who, according to him, did not even spare teachers who came to the rescue of the boy.Following a complaint, a man affiliated to the ABVP was arrested, he added.
The team members said that on January 6, three men belonging to the RSS harassed a Muslim man at Lodhi Galli and on January 14, they again tried to create unrest and came with a mob carrying lethal weapons leading to tension in the locality. While cases were filed against members of both the communities, only Muslim youths were arrested.
Members of the Sangh Parivar took out a protest march to the station on the issue. Subsequently, on January 17, led by Bajrang Dal leader Sanju Nalvade, hate speeches were delivered against Muslims using derogatory terms, they said.
Mr. Ahmed said that it was shocking that despite being named in an FIR, Mr. Nalvade was allowed to make hate speech in front of the police station. Consequently, emboldened by the inaction of the police, the rowdy elements carried out the attack on Sameer Shahpur and Shamseer Khan on the same day, resulting in Sameer Shahpur’s death, he said.
Bahutva Karnataka will urge the State Government to immediately initiate strong action against hate speeches, arrest all the offenders, provide protection to the victim families and also compensation,Mr. Bhattacharya and Mr. Narayanan demanded. They pointed out that what is shocking is that till date elected representatives have not met the victim families at least to offer a word of consolation.
