Communal tension gripped the Walled City of Jaipur on Saturday when a youth died, allegedly after being thrashed by a crowd following a misunderstanding about a road accident. The victim, 18-year-old Iqbal Raza, was a bystander mistaken as a person responsible for the mishap.
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Two motorcycles collided in the Subhash Chowk area late on Friday night, after which a crowd gathered there and allegedly attacked Mr. Raza and another person with rods and sticks. While the other person escaped, Mr. Raza was lying in a pool of blood when the police arrived at the spot. He was rushed to a hospital, where it was declared that he had been brought dead. The post-mortem was carried out at Sawai Man Singh Hospital.
Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph said that the incident was caused by a misunderstanding. Nearly a dozen persons were detained on suspicion of being involved in the assault of the youth.
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Tensions controlled
Mr. Raza’s family members and the people of the Ramganj locality, where the family lives, staged a demonstration on Saturday morning, leading to tensions in the Walled City. The situation was brought under control with the deployment of the Special Task Force, Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, and an additional police force.
As the markets and schools in the area were closed and people gathered in large numbers on the Ramganj-Badi Chaupar Road demanding action against the accused, the police used drones to monitor the situation. Those opposed to the protestors also gathered at a spot and raised slogans. The police said that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the Walled City.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against unknown persons under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code, based on the complaint lodged by Mr. Raza’s family members. The police said that those detained were being interrogated.
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Financial assistance
Congress MLAs Amin Kagzi of Kishanpole and Rafiq Khan of Adarsh Nagar, both Assembly constituencies in Jaipur, met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday morning to apprise him of the tense situation in the city. The district administration announced a financial assistance of ₹50 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased shortly afterwards.
The State government also announced that one of the victim’s family members would be given a contractual job. His father, Abdul Majeed, will be allotted a Jaipur Saras Dairy booth on priority. Public Health Engineering Minister Mahesh Joshi, who represents the Walled City’s Hawa Mahal constituency, visited the family and expressed his condolences.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned the incident and said that this was another instance of the mob lynchings witnessed in the State. PUCL-Jaipur president Meeta Singh urged the State government to take steps to maintain communal harmony in the run-up to the Assembly election.