A fight between two minor boys over a local cricket match was allegedly given a communal colour by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sanjeev Balyan in Muzaffarnagar’s Purbaliyan Village on August 21.
Following an argument during the match, Hindu and Muslim communities got into a verbal spat in the village on August 24, reported
Neelufar, a social worker revealed that on August 24 night, Aabid, a worker under farmer Shamsher, was beaten by unidentified persons. When Aabid returned home in an almost unconscious state, people rushed him to a nearby hospital.
“On their way, Pal community stopped the vehicle in which Aabid was being taken and started questioning. Slowly crowd started gathering and even the Purbaliyan police station in-charge was present there,” Neelufar said.
She claimed that not a single person was injured during the clash. “There was a verbal spat and no physical attack or violence took place. No one was injured.”
The locals have accused the BJP leader of inciting communal hatred between the Hindu and Muslim community over a petty argument during the match.
Addressing the reporters after the clash, BJP MP Balyan announced that he would charge the entire village with National Security Act (NSA) and section 3017 (attempt to murder) of IPC.
“Earlier, it was because of Purbaliyan that Muzaffarnagar riots took place.. everyone was accused including me. But the real cause was the death of four people in Purbaliayan after which Muzaffarnagar riots happened. After what happened today, extremely strict actions will be taken so that nobody even dares to misbehave in this village,” the MP said.
“The accused will be charged with NSA and such strict actions will be taken that nothing of this sort is repeated in Purbaliyan village in the future,” he added.
After the MP’s statement, police officials stormed into the houses of several villagers, slapped NSA against three people and arrested 37 Muslims, including minors, under IPC section 307.
Aakil, a 16-year-old boy who was arrested by the police, was not even present during the cricket match. Aakil’s uncle said, “The police came and broke all our belongings. They broke our utensils. There were some Rs. 20,000 we had saved and kept in a tea kettle. They even took that money.”
Niranjan Singh, one of the villagers said that the BJP is deliberately creating tension in the village before 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “BJP people are preparing the atmosphere as the elections are coming closer. They were hoping that some Hindu-Muslims fight in the village. But nothing happened. People here don’t have any reasons to fight,” he said.
“It was just a fight between two families, two kids. You switch on the television and see news channel debating over the issue. But What has happened? Nothing what they’re saying happened here!,” Singh added.