Muzaffarnagar Riot: Update

One has been hearing a number of versions of why and how violence broke out in Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining areas but the need of the hour lies in rebuilding lost trust and correcting the inhuman conditions that prevail in the relief camps, writes Mariya salim. 

NEARLY two months after riots broke out in Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining districts, the survivors continue to live in camps, more than 35,000 of them, in sub-humane conditions, too petrified to return to the villages they once referred to as “home”. With political mudslinging taking centrestage even after the violence continues to haunt people of both communities, a look at one of the relief camps, Malakpur, reminds one of how disastrous a riot can be for thousands of innocent victims.

Muzaffarnagar Riot: Impact to Women and Children

‘We heard people shouting in our village. The Jats were creaming and saying that not one Muslim will be spared. My family and I ran for our lives. I saw two women being shot and six others being brutally killed. Two men caught hold of me and tore my clothes. I managed to escape. My little children and i hid in sugarcane fields, for two days we had nothing but water to survive on. Here i am today, it has been over a month now and i have no where to go.”( Salma from Village Laakh)

27th August 2013, clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities of the Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India have claimed 43 lives and injured 93 people. There two version of the causes of this rioting alternates between a traffic accident and eve-teasing. According to the first version, a minor traffic accident involving some youths and then spiralled out of control when it eventually took on religious overtones. In the second version, a girl from the Hindu Jat community was allegedly harassed in an Eve-teasing incident by one Muslim youth in Kawal village. This incident turned to high tension and killing each other among muslim and hindu, with mistreatment form the government. Hate speech provoked by media and other agency were also found as fuel the violence.

The fact-finding reported by 13 representative of civil societies, who conducted investigation on 8th-10th October 2013, found that lack of access to justice over their land, animal, houses etc. Now, about 1508 families are taking shelter in land belonging to the forest department. Data reported by the fact finding team that currently 10,000 internally displaced people are living in vulnerable situation in different camps. Haaji Saab under Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind is managing the camp with limitation.