Jharkhand Violence Leaves Trail Of Burned Muslim Homes, Shops

Aman Ansari (37) and his nephew Wasim Ansari were travelling on a bike in Kujra village of Jharkhand’s Lohardaga when they were brutally assaulted by a mob during the Ram Navami processions on April 10.

Aman was lame after he had fractured a leg in a road accident a few months ago, and could not run away during the assault. He could not bear the blows of the sword and died due to severe injuries. His nephew Wasim, managed to escape but sustained many injuries.

“Aman’s dead body was found in a drain in Kujra later that night,” his uncle Akhtar Ansari said. “Wasim is in a critical condition, there are still more than fifty wounds in his body, while Aman’s body wounds cannot be counted,” he added. 

“We had no idea that he would be killed. We thought why would someone kill a handicapped person.”

Aman, who has always been in a beard and cap, has a house made of mud. Apart from his parents, he has four daughters and an eight-month-old son. When asked who would take care of them now, Akhtar, simply said, “only Allah knows that.”

Clashes were reported during Shobha Yatra on the occasion of Ram Navami in Lohardaga during which over a dozen people were injured. While miscreants set many vehicles on fire, shops owned by Muslims were burnt to ashes. A Muslim youth- Aman Ansari died.

Around 1000 people were part of the procession in Hirhi village in Lohardaga- a Muslim-majority area where a seventy-year-old resident – Mujahim Ansari, was attacked with a sword and injured. 

“I was returning home for Iftar when one of the men from the procession marched towards me and attacked my neck with a sword. I tried to stop it with my hand, but my hand was severely injured and cut, after which I fainted. Later the people of the village took me home, I got 9 stitches in my hand,” Mujahim narrated.

According to Mujahim, since his childhood, Ram Navami processions used to come to the Brahmin family’s house in Hirhi village. A Brahmin family and 8-10 Mahali (tribal) families live in Hirhi along with 350 Muslim families. 

The Muslims of the village used to arrange water, sherbet, and food items during the processions. The procession would then move to Kujra village, two kilometres away, where a fair was held. Muslims would also join to go to the fair located in Kujra where Muslims used to set up shops.

“When I saw the procession, I did not think that such an incident would happen to me. I got nine stitches because of the attack, and two fingers are still not functioning because of the wound, this wound will heal in a few days, but how will the wound of brotherhood heal? Seeing this situation, I no longer have the courage to join the procession in the future,” Mujahim said. 

Anees Afzal is a social worker based in Ranchi who has conducted a fact-finding on the Hirhi violence. During a conversation with The Cognate, he said that “it is a matter of investigation that at a place where there used to be a crowd of 100-150 people every year, how did it become a crowd of 1000 this year?”

“The procession was taking place in front of a Muslim graveyard and objectionable slogans were being raised. There is a mosque behind the graveyard and since it was nearing prayer time, the Muslims asked the procession to move ahead. As the procession progressed, a Muslim boy was beaten up and 70-year-old Mujahim was injured. Many shops were set on fire and vehicles were vandalised,” Afzal said. 

In the direction in which the procession progressed, the village of Kujra begins. On the main road outside the village is the house of Mubarak Ansari, his vegetable warehouse and his brother’s auto parts shop. Both the shops were set on fire.

“As soon as I got the news of the fire, I ran towards the house. The miscreants present at the crossroads first attacked with a stick, after that they beat me with a sword, the sword did not hit me, but the bike. It hit the seat, due to which the seat tore,” Mubarak recounted. 

“All the rice, pulses, and vegetables in my warehouse were burnt. My brother’s bike parts shop was also burnt and the walls of three rooms were burnt due to fire. There was a loss of around 6 lakhs.”

When asked if there was any premonition that such an event would happen, Mubarak said, “Not at all. My question is that if they had a fight in Hirhi village, why did they burn my house and warehouse in Kujra village?” 

A named FIR has been registered in the Lohardaga police station on the application of Mubarak, but neither the Lohardaga station in-charge, SHO nor SP R. Ram Kumar agreed to speak on the matter. 

Locals believe that fairs held during festivals in rural areas are a source of income for the villagers. But this time the situation at the fair was completely different. According to Mubarak, 95% of Muslim shops were set on fire in Kujra Mela, causing a huge loss for Muslim shopkeepers.

When a mob set fire to Mubarak’s house in Kujra, at the same time, in his neighbourhood – Qasim Ansari’s house was set ablaze. 

“When the rioters came, I locked the house from inside and hid with my family in the inner room. But after a fire broke out in a shop, smoke started coming into the room, we started feeling suffocated and hid in a room at the other end of the house, but this room was connected to another shop. When the rioters set that shop on fire, smoke started coming into this room too and we were suffocated. I took my family to the bakery through the street and we locked ourselves inside.” Qasim recounted. 

The administrative officers arrived later and asked them to collect whatever was remaining from their house. 

“When we went to the bedroom, we saw that the rioters robbed both my daughters’ wedding jewellery, which was worth about three lakh rupees and one lakh forty-three thousand cash from the bedroom. Most of the belongings of the house were destroyed due to the fire. The clothes and grocery shop belonged to my tenant- all of which were destroyed. There has been a loss of about ten lakh rupees,” Qasim said, urging that the government gives them protection so that such a gut-wrenching incident does not happen again.

Qasim had filed a named FIR, under which a case was registered against 38 rioters, and five people have been arrested.

After the incident, SP Ramkumar said in his statement that 14 FIRs have been registered connected to communal violence. The SDO held that a “sleeper cell” was behind the violence, adding that funding for the same was done under the garb of organizing a “football competition”. During a peace committee meeting, he further added that activities of the “sleeper cell” in the Lohardaga district were going on for two years and suspicious activity was going on in Hirhi village for the last six months. 

An attempt was made to contact the local SDO to get answers to several questions related to the “sleeper cell” and the incident, but he could not be contacted. Queries related to the incident were sent to the SDO by mail, his reply is awaited, and his statement will be updated as soon as he answers.

When SP R Ram Kumar was asked questions regarding the “sleeper cell”, he said, “the case is under investigation, that’s why we cannot comment.”

BJP leader Omprakash Singh said, “we are celebrating our festival. The way the anti-social elements carried out the incident is highly condemnable.” He further alleged that the incident was part of a well-planned conspiracy and that the government take immediate action and punish the culprits with the harshest possible.”

President of the All Muslim Youth Association, Shamim Ali submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, in which he mentioned that provocative slogans were raised in the procession near Hirhi graveyard that lasted for 40 minutes. “The local Muslim society asked everyone to continue their program by moving ahead from the cemetery, meanwhile, both sides clashed, at the same time some people involved in the procession demolished the wall of the cemetery,” he mentioned.

According to Shamim Ali, “whatever happened in Hirahi and Kujra is the result of negligence and neglect of Lohardagga administration. I have demanded from the honourable Chief Minister that the government should give compensation to Aman Ansari, as well as justice to Aman Ansari and Wasim Ansari, whose lynching took place in Kujara.”