Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Hashimpura: the black chapter in the history of UP Police / Vibhuti Narain Rai

You get subject to some experiences that stick with you throughout your life. They always stay with you like a nightmare and sometimes are like debts on your shoulders. The experience at Hashimpura was such an experience for me.
The night of 22 23 May year 1987 which I spent in the wild undergrowth along the stream flowing through the Makanpur village situated on the Delhi Ghaziabad border looking for any living souls amidst the dead bodies covered with blood in the dim light of my torch- everything is engraved in my memory like a horror movie.
That night I returned to Ghaziabad from Hapur at around 10 30 pm. District Magistrate Nasim Zaidi was with me and I dropped him at his house before reaching the residence of the police officer. The moment the headlight of my car fell on the gates of the residence I saw an estranged and shocked Sub Inspector B. B. Singh who was the in charge of the Link road police station at that time.
I could tell from my experience that something serious had happened in that area. I instructed my driver to stop the car and go off. B.B.Singh was so horrified that it did not seem possible for him to explain things coherently. Whatever he could convey while stammering about events in a disorderly manner was enough to shock me. I understood that somewhere in his station area the P. A.C. had killed some Muslims. Why?? How many?? From where?? Was not clear. After asking him to repeat his facts again and again I tried making a narrative of the events piece by piece. According to the picture so drawn B.B. Singh was sitting in his office when around 9' o clock he heard firing from the direction of Makanpur. He and everybody else at the station thought that there was robbery in progress in the village. Today Makanpur's name can only be found in the revenue records. Makanpur today has tall magnificent buildings but in 1987 it was all barren land. Through this barren land ran a check road on which B.B. Singh raced his motorcycle towards the village. Behind him sat the station officer and a constable. They had barely covered a 100 yards on the check road when they saw a truck racing towards them from the opposite direction. If they had not ridden the motorcycle off the check road the truck would have ran them over. According to what they saw while trying to maintain their balance the truck was yellow in color and had 41 printed on the back. They even saw people in khaki clothes sitting in the back seats. It was not difficult for a police officer to understand that this was a truck belonging to the 41st battalion of the P.A.C. crossing them with some officers of the P.A.C.; but this made the situation more complicated. Why would a P.A.C. truck be coming from Makanpur at this hour?? What was the mystery behind the firing?? B.B. Singh got the motorcycle on the check road and again proceeded towards the village. The scene that he and his officers saw not more than a mile down the road gave them all goose bumps. Before the habitation of the village the check road crosses a stream. The stream goes ahead and enters into the Delhi border. There was a bridge where the check road crossed the stream. As he reached the bridge and the headlights of B.B. Singh's motorcycle fell on the undergrowth along the stream; he understood the mystery behind the firing. There were blood stains all over the place. Along the stream, in the undergrowth and in the water there were bodies with fresh wounds in them. B.B. Singh and his men tried to inspect the scene and to guess what happened there. All they could decipher was that there must be a relation between the bodies there and the P.A.C truck they came across on the way. Leaving the constable at the scene B.B. Singh with his fellow officer turned back to the main road. The headquarters of the 41st battalion of the P.A.C. was situated on the Delhi Ghaziabad Marg near the police station. They both headed for the headquarters.
The main gate was closed. Even after arguing for a long time the sentry did not give them the permission to go inside. B.B. Singh then decided to come to the zonal headquarters and tell me about the events.
From what I could understand from the narration it was clear that some event had occurred, the event was horrifying and that Ghaziabad could be in flames the next day. Since the past many weeks the neighboring district of Meerut was facing communal riots and these riots were moving towards Ghaziabad as well.
I first called the district magistrate Nasim Zaidi. He was about to sleep. After that I called the additional S.P. at the district headquarters, a few deputy S.P.s and magistrates and told them all to get ready.
In about another 45 minutes we were heading towards the Makanpur village in about 7-8 cars.
Our cars were parked a little distance away from the bridge on the stream. No one had come from the village which was situated on the other side of the stream. It seemed that terror had forced them all to go into hiding in their houses. There were some police officers from the Link road police station though. The weak beams of their torches were falling on the thick shrubs besides the stream but it was difficult to see anything in that little light. I told the drivers to turn the cars towards the stream and turn their headlights on. An area of around 100 yards width was illuminated. What I saw in that light was the nightmare I was referring to in the beginning.
The light of the headlights was not sufficient due which torches were also carried by all the men. The stains of blood had still not dried up and blood was still dripping from them. The bodies of the dead were dumped all around some were stuck in the bushes whereas some were half submerged in the water. To check if anyone was still alive among the bodies seemed more important to me than to count and remove the dead.
We were about 20 people and everybody started looking in different directions to check if anybody was still alive. We would even yell out in between hoping that somebody would answer back, trying to tell them that we were not foes but friends and the injured would be taken to a hospital. But we got no reply. Disappointed some of us sat down on the bridge. The district in charge and I decided that there was no gain in wasting any time. We had to make strategies for the next day and we decided to leave the task of removing the bodies and completing the necessary paper work. We were about to proceed towards the Link Road station when we heard the sound of a cough coming from the stream. Everyone froze. I leapt towards the stream. Silence fell over the place again. It was clear that there was a survivor but he did not believe that the people looking for him were friends. We started yelling out again and threw light on each individual body and in the end our eyes fell on a body which was moving. Someone was hanging by both hands from a bush with half his body in the stream in such a way that it was difficult for one to tell if he was dead or alive without proper attention. Trembling with terror and believing only after a lot of reassuring that we were there not to hurt but to save, the person who was going to tell us about this horrifying event, his name was Babbudin. The bullet had just missed and went scratching him. Unconscious he fell into the shrubs and in the stampede his killers forgot to check if he was dead or alive. Holding his breath he lay half in the water and half in the bushes and in this way he managed to cheat death. He wasn't seriously hurt and he walked from the stream to the cars. He even rested on the bridge for some time. When I met after 21 years while I was collecting material for the book I was writing on Hashimpura, at the same place where the P.A.C. picked him up from, he remembered that I offered him a biddi after taking one from a constable. According to what Babbudin told us that when that day during the regular checking around 50 people were made to sit in the P.A.C. truck they all thought that they were being taken to a station or a jail. The truck was taken off the main road about 45 minutes from Makanpur and stopped at distance down the road. The P.A.C. leapt down from the truck and ordered them to get down from the truck. Only half the people had hardly got off when the P.A.C. started firing on them. The people still on the truck took cover. Babbudin was one of them. He could only guess what would have happened to the people who got off. The sounds of the firing probably reached the neighboring villages as a result of which noises started coming from them. The P.A.C. people again got on the truck. The truck reversed and again sped off towards Ghaziabad. Here it came to the Makanpur stream and the P.A.C. again ordered everyone to get off. This time the horrified prisoners refused to get off so they were pulled and dragged from the truck. The one who came out were shot and thrown in the stream and the ones who didn't were shot on the truck and thrown off. While Babbudin was telling us the whole incident we tried to assess the location of the first crime scene. Someone suggested that the first crime scene could be the stream which flows near the Muradnagar station which is situated on the road from Meerut to Ghaziabad. I called the Muradnagar station using the wireless at the Link road station and found that we were right. The Muradnagar station had been facing the similar problem just some time ago. Some were found dead in the stream and some were brought back alive to the station.
The story after this is a narrative of a long and torturous wait in which the issues relating to the relation between the Indian state and minorities, the unprofessional attitude of the police and the sluggish pace of the frustrating judicial system may be raised.
The cases which I had filed in Ghaziabad's Link Road and Muradnagar Stations have been facing various roadblocks for the last 21 years and are still pending in courts and still waiting for the logical judgment.

हाशिमपुरा - उत्तर प्रदेश पुलिस के इतिहास का एक काला अध्याय
जीवन के कुछ अनुभव ऐसे होतें हैं जो जिन्दगी भर आपका पीछा नहीं छोडतें . एक दु:स्वप्न की तरह वे हमेशा आपके साथ चलतें हैं और कई बार तो कर्ज की तरह आपके सर पर सवार रहतें हैं. हाशिमपुरा भी मेरे लिये कुछ ऐसा ही अनुभव है. 22/23 मई सन 1987 की आधी रात दिल्ली गाजियाबाद सीमा पर मकनपुर गाँव से गुजरने वाली नहर की पटरी और किनारे उगे सरकण्डों के बीच टार्च की कमजोर रोशनी में खून से लथपथ धरती पर मृतकों के बीच किसी जीवित को तलाशना- सब कुछ मेरे स्मृति पटल पर किसी हॉरर फिल्म की तरह अंकित है.
उस रात द्स-साढे दस बजे हापुड से वापस लौटा था. साथ जिला मजिस्ट्रेट नसीम जैदी थे जिन्हें उनके बँगले पर उतारता हुआ मैं पुलिस अधीक्षक निवास पर पहुँचा. निवास के गेट पर जैसे ही कार की हेडलाइट्स पडी मुझे घबराया हुआ और उडी रंगत वाला चेहरा लिये सब इंसपेक्टर वी•बी•सिंह दिखायी दिया जो उस समय लिंक रोड थाने का इंचार्ज था. मेरा अनुभव बता रहा था कि उसके इलाके में कुछ गंभीर घटा है. मैंने ड्राइवर को कार रोकने का इशारा किया और नीचे उतर गया.
वी•बी•सिंह इतना घबराया हुआ था कि उसके लिये सुसंगत तरीके से कुछ भी बता पाना संभव नहीं लग रहा था. हकलाते हुये और असंबद्ध टुकडों में उसने जो कुछ मुझे बताया वह स्तब्ध कर देने के लिये काफी था. मेरी समझ में आ गया कि उसके थाना क्षेत्र में कहीं नहर के किनारे पी•ए•सी• ने कुछ मुसलमानों को मार दिया है. क्यों मारा? कितने लोगों को मारा ? कहाँ से लाकर मारा ? स्पष्ट नहीं था. कई बार उसे अपने तथ्यों को दुहराने के लिये कह कर मैंने पूरे घटनाक्रम को टुकडे-टुकडे जोडते हुये एक नैरेटिव तैयार करने की कोशिश की. जो चित्र बना उसके अनुसार वी•बी•सिंह थाने में अपने कार्यालय में बैठा हुआ था कि लगभग 9 बजे उसे मकनपुर की तरफ से फायरिंग की आवाज सुनायी दी. उसे और थाने में मौजूद दूसरे पुलिस कर्मियों को लगा कि गाँव में डकैती पड रही है. आज तो मकनपुर गाँव का नाम सिर्फ रेवेन्यू रिकार्ड्स में है . आज गगनचुम्बी आवासीय इमारतों, मॉल और व्यावसायिक प्रतिष्ठानों वाले मकनपुर में 1987 में दूर-दूर तक बंजर जमीन पसरी हुयी थी. इसी बंजर जमीन के बीच की एक चक रोड पर वी•बी•सिंह की मोटर सायकिल दौडी. उसके पीछे थाने का एक दारोगा और एक अन्य सिपाही बैठे थे. वे चक रोड पर सौ गज भी नहीं पहुँचे थे कि सामने से तेज रफ्तार से एक ट्रक आता हुआ दिखायी दिया. अगर उन्होंने समय रहते हुये अपनी मोटर सायकिल चक रोड से नीचे न उतार दी होती तो ट्रक उन्हें कुचल देता. अपना संतुलन संभालते-संभालते जितना कुछ उन्होंने देखा उसके अनुसार ट्रक पीले रंग का था और उस पर पीछे 41 लिखा हुआ था, पिछली सीटों पर खाकी कपडे पहने कुछ लोग बैठे हुये दिखे.किसी पुलिस कर्मी के लिये यह समझना मुश्किल नहीं था कि पी•ए•सी• की 41 वीं बटालियन का ट्रक कुछ पी•ए•सी• कर्मियों को लेकर गुजरा था. पर इससे गुत्थी और उलझ गयी. इस समय मकनपुर गाँव में पी•ए•सी• का ट्रक क्यों आ रहा था ? गोलियों की आवाज के पीछे क्या रहस्य था ? वी•बी•सिंह ने मोटर सायकिल वापस चक रोड पर डाली और गाँव की तरफ बढा. मुश्किल से एक किलोमीटर दूर जो नजारा उसने और उसके साथियों ने देखा वह रोंगटे खडा कर देने वाला था मकनपुर गाँव की आबादी से पहले चक रोड एक नहर को काटती थी. नहर आगे जाकर दिल्ली की सीमा में प्रवेश कर जाती थी. जहाँ चक रोड और नहर एक दूसरे को काटते थे वहाँ पुलिया थी. पुलिया पर पहुँचते- पहुँचते वी•बी•सिंह के मोटर सायकिल की हेडलाइट जब नहर के किनारे उस सरकंडे की झाडियों पर पडी तो उन्हें गोलियों की आवाज का रहस्य समझ में आया. चारों तरफ खून के धब्बे बिखरे पडे थे. नहर की पटरी, झाडियों और पानी के अन्दर ताजा जख्मों वाले शव पडे थे. वी•बी•सिंह और उसके साथियों ने घटनास्थल का मुलाहिजा कर अन्दाज लगाने की कोशिश की कि वहाँ क्या हुआ होगा ? उनकी समझ में सिर्फ इतना आया कि वहाँ पडे शवों और रास्ते में दिखे पी•ए•सी• की ट्रक में कोई संबन्ध जरूर है. साथ के सिपाही को घटनास्थल पर निगरानी के लिये छोडते हुये वी•बी•सिंह अपने साथी दारोगा के साथ वापस मुख्य सडक की तरफ लौटा. थाने से थोडी गाजियाबाद-दिल्ली मार्ग पर पी•ए•सी• की 41वीं बटालियन का मुख्यालय था. दोनो सीधे वहीं पहुँचे. बटालियन का मुख्य द्वार बंद था .काफी देर बहस करने के बावजूद भी संतरी ने उन्हें अंदर जाने की इजाजत नहीं दी. तब वी•बी•सिंह ने जिला मुख्यालय आकर मुझे बताने का फैसला किया.जितना कुछ आगे टुकडों टुकडों में बयान किये गये वृतांत से मैं समझ सका उससे स्पष्ट हो ही गया था कि जो घटा है वह बहुत ही भयानक है और दूसरे दिन गाजियाबाद जल सकता था. पिछले कई हफ्तों से बगल के जिले मेरठ में सांप्रादायिक दंगे चल रहे थे और उसकी लपटें गाजियाबाद पहुँच रहीं थीं.मैंने सबसे पहले जिला मजिस्ट्रेट नसीम जैदी को फोन किया. वे सोने ही जा रहे थे. उन्हें जगने के लिये कह कर मैंने जिला मुख्यालय पर मौजूद अपने एडिशनल एस•पी•, कुछ डिप्टी व्स•पी• और मजिस्ट्रेटों को जगाया और तैयार होने के लिये कहा. अगले चाली-पैंतालीस मिनटों में सात-आठ वाहनों में लदे-फंदे हम मकनपुर गाँव की तरफ लपके. नहर की पुलिया से थोडा पहले हमारी गाडियाँ खडीं हो गयीं. नहर के दूसरी तरफ थोडी दूर पर ही मकनपुर गाँव की आबादी थी लेकिन तब तक कोई गाँव वाला वहाँ नहीं पहुँचा था. लगता था कि दहशत ने उन्हें घरों में दुबकने को मजबूर कर दिया था. थाना लिंक रोड के कुछ पुलिस कर्मी जरूर वहाँ पहुँच गये थे. उनकी टार्चों की रोशनी के कमजोर वृत्त नहर के किनारे उगी घनी झाडियों पर पड रहे थे पर उअनसे साफ देख पाना मुश्किल था. मैंने गाडियों के ड्राइवरों से नहर की तरफ रुख करके अपने हेडलाइट्स ऑन करने के लिये कहा. लगभग सौ गज चौडा इलाका प्रकाश से नहा उठा. उस रोशनी में मैंने जो कुछ देखा वह वही दु;स्वप्न था जिसका जिक्र मैंने शुरु में किया है.
गाडियों की हेडलाइट्स की रोशनियाँ झाडियों से टकरा कर टूट टूट जा रहीं थीं इसलिये टार्चोंं का भी इस्तेमाल करना पड रहा था. झाडियों और नहरों के किनारे खून के थक्के अभी पूरी तरह से जमे नहीं थे , उनमें से खून रिस रहा था. पटरी पर बेतरतीबी से शव पडे थे- कुछ पूरे झाडियों में फंसे तो कुछ आधे तिहाई पानी में डूबे. शवों की गिनती करने या निकालने से ज्यादा जरूरी मुझे इस बात की पडताल करना लगा कि उनमें से कोई जीवित तो नहीं है. सबने अलग-अलग दिशाओं में टार्चों की रोशनियाँ फेंक फेंक कर अन्दाज लगाने की कोशिश की कि कोई जीवित है या नहीं. बीच बीच में हम हांक भी लगाते रहे कि यदि कोई जीवित हो तो उत्तर दे. हम दुश्मन नहीं दोस्त हैं. उसे अस्पताल ले जायेंगे. पर कोई जवाब नहीं मिला. निराश होकर हममें से कुछ पुलिया पर बैठ गये.मैंने और जिलाधिकारी ने तय किया कि समय खोने से कोई लाभ नहीं है. हमें दूसरे दिन की रणनीति बनानी थी इसलिये जूनियर अधिकारियों को शवों को निकालने और जरूरी लिखा-पढी करने के लिये कह कर हम लिंक रोड थाने के लिये मुडे ही थे कि नहर की तरफ से खाँसने की आवाज सुनायी दी. सभी ठिठक कर रुक गये. मैं वापस नहर की तरफ लपका. फिर मौन छा गया. स्पष्ट था कि कोई जीवित था लेकिन उसे यकीन नहीं था कि जो लोग उसे तलाश रहें हैं वे मित्र हैं. हमने फिर आवाजें लगानी शुरू कीं, टार्च की रोशनी अलग-अलग शरीरों पर डालीं और अंत में हरकत करते हुये एक शरेर पर हमारी नजरें टिक गयीं. कोई दोनो हाथों से झाडियाँ पकडे आधा शरीर नहर में डुबोये इस तरह पडा था कि बिना ध्यान से देखे यह अन्दाज लगाना मुश्किल था कि वह जीवित है या मृत ! दहशत से बुरी तरह वह काँप रहा और काफी देर तक आश्वस्त करने के बाद यह विश्वास करने वाला कि हम उसे मारने नहीं बचाने वालें हैं, जो व्यक्ति अगले कुछ घंटे हमे इस लोमहर्षक घटना की जानकारी देने वाला था, उसका नाम बाबूदीन था.गोली उसे छूते हुये निकल गयी थी.भय से वह नि;श्चेष्ट होकर वह झाडियों में गिरा तो भाग दौड में उसके हत्यारों को यह जाँचने का मौका नहीं मिला कि वह जीवित है या मर गया. दम साधे वह आधा झाडियों और आधा पानी में पडा रहा और इस तरह मौत के मुँह से वापस लौट आया. उसे कोई खास चोट नहीं आयी थी और नहर से चलकर वह गाडियों तक आया. बीच में पुलिया पर बैठकर थोडी देर सुस्ताया भी. लगभग 21 वर्षों बाद जब हाशिमपुर पर एक किताब लिखने के लिये सामग्री इकट्ठी करते समय मेरी उससे मुलाकात हुयी जहाँ पी•ए•सी• उसे उठा कर ले गयी थी तो उसे याद था कि पुलिया पर बैठे उसे किसी सिपाही से माँग कर बीडी दी थी. बाबूदीन ने जो बताया उसके अनुसार उस दिन अपरान्ह तलाशियों के दौरान पी•ए•सी• के एक ट्रक पर बैठाकर चालीस पचास लोगों को ले जाया गया तो उन्होंने समझा कि उन्हें गिरफ्तार कर किसी थाने या जेल ले जाया जा रहा है. मकनपुर पहुँचने के लगभग पौन घण्टा पहले एक नहर पर ट्रक को मुख्य सडक से उतारकर नहर की पटरी पर कुछ दूर ले जाकर रोक दिया गया. पी•ए•सी• के जवान कूद कर नीचे उतर गये और उन्होंने ट्रक पर सवार लोगों को नीचे उतरने का आदेश दिया. अभी आधे लोग ही उतरे थे कि पी•ए•सी• वालों ने उनपर फायर करना शुरु कर दिया. गोलियाँ चलते ही ऊपर वाले गाडी में ही दुबक गये. बाबू दीन भी उनमें से एक था.बाहर उतरे लोगों का क्या हुआ वह सिर्फ अनुमान ही लगा सकता था. शायद फायरिंग की आवाज आस पास के गाँवों में पहुँची जिसके कारण आस पास से शोर सुनायी देने लगा और पी•ए•सी• वाले वापस ट्रक में चढ गये. ट्रक तेजी से बैक हुआ और वापस गाजियाबाद की तरफ भागा. यहाँ वह मकनपुर वाली नहर पर आया और एक बार फिर सबसे उतरने के लिये कहा गया. इस बार डर कर ऊपर दुबके लोगों ने उतरने से इंकार कर दिया तो उन्हें खींच खींच कर नीचे घसीटा गया. जो नीचे आ गये उन्हें पहले की तरह गोली मारकर नहर में फेंक दिया गया और जो डर कर ऊपर दुबके रहे उन्हें ऊपर ही गोली मारकर नीचे ढकेला गया. बाबूदीन जब यह विवरण बता रहा था तो हमने पहले घटनास्थल का अन्दाज लगाने की कोशिश की . किसी ने सुझाव दिया कि पहला घटनास्थल मेरठ से गाजियाबाद आते समय रास्ते में मुरादनगर थाने में पडने वाली नहर हो सकती है. मैंने लिंक रोड थाने के वायरलेस सेट से मुरादनगर थाने को कॉल किया तो स्पष्ट हुआ कि हमारा सोचना सही था. कुछ देर पहले ही मुरादनगर थाने को भी ऐसी ही स्थिति से गुजरना पडा था . वहाँ भी कई मृत शव नहर में पडे मिले थे और कुछ लोग जीवित थाने लाये गये थे.
इसके बाद की कथा एक लंबा और यातनादायक प्रतीक्षा का वृतांत है जिसमें भारतीय राज्य और अल्पसंख्यकों के रिश्ते, पुलिस का गैर पेशेवराना रवैया और घिसट घिसट कर चलने वाली उबाऊ न्यायिक प्रणाली जैसे मुद्दे जुडे हुयें हैं. मैंने 22 मई 1987 को जो मुकदमें गाजियाबाद के थाना लिंक रोड और मुरादनगर पर दर्ज कराये थे वे पिछले 21 वर्षों से विभिन्न बाधाओं से टकराते हुये अभी भी अदालत में चल रहें हैं और अपनी तार्किक परिणति की प्रतीक्षा कर रहें हैं


श्री विभूति नारायण राय

20 comments:

Amitabh Thakur said...

This is in reply to what Sri Rai has to say about religion having a negative effect on police functioning in India-
Being a religious person is not limited to people belonging to a particular faith, be it Hindus or Muslims. And secularism is not as straight a concept as is being made out at times.
What is religion, can be a question of long discussions. Everyone who thinks, says or feels as being a religious person or acknowledges a religion might have his/her facts based on individual understanding, preference and mental makeup. But can there be a denial that the majority of people in this world are believers in one or other religion. Those not being among this group are either those who don’t believe in a particular religion but do believe in God or those who do not believe in any kind of God as the creator of this universe. There are others who prefer ignoring this question as being unanswerable or not being important enough to be answered. And yet, many of these thoughts themselves get developed as a religion of their own. Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, Buddhism and to some extent Lokayat are examples of this.
What it means is that people are prone to find some kind of external, super-natural, faith based support for themselves which gives them strength in times of need or a scapegoat for things having gone wrong or as a constant companion or invisible caretaker looking after his/ her welfare. It is what you might call the Feel-good factor.
Religion that started in this manner slowly acquired regimental proportions and fixed attires with the passage of time. It automatically resulted in clear lines of division being drawn among the followers of different faith /sect /religion. With it came the feeling of superiority, feeling of being better than the others, the concept of survival and the accomplished struggles for existence and all the paraphernalia. If someone going to a service starts feeling so much attached to his service, having joined it at a rather ripe age of 20 +, think of the kind of attachment religion has with the psyche of a man who has been born and brought up with it and which has been there at every moment when he/she has been passing through the journey called life- in fear, in pain, in success, in failure, in times of happiness, in sadness, in life and in death. How can we think that a person will remain unattached to the phenomenon call religion? Che Guevera lost his life for the religion called Marxism. Bhagat Singh hung himself for the religion called Bharat Mata and the goddess called humanity.
But to say that a person (at least the greater proportion of it) can or will remain immune to or unaffected by religion is to close our eyes to reality and to ignore facts for fiction. And human race, being what it is, is bound to incorporate all sorts of distortions in the format called religion. When we had our Constitution made, could we think of such unexpected situations cropping up, so as to put everyone in fix as what to do? The same holds true of religion. It has taken all shapes, all forms, all formats, all structures and all complexities.
But what has religion to do with police? Every thing. Every where. Wars are fought in the name of religion. Riots take place in the name of religion. An inter-religious marriage can be a cause of great concern. Killing of a few animals are much more sensitive issues than those hapless and helpless ones who did not have the good fortune of being adopted by some of the religions. Terrorist activities are going on all over the globe in the name of religion. A building as high as the WTC gets demolished within hours for the sake of religion. The police officers of many countries begin their day officially with some kind of religious prayer. The US Constitution, the source of all powers and authorities in that most powerful country, including policing, has words that say- “In God we believe”.
So, to see the entire phenomenon through the reference point of a few examples is doing injustice to this hugely intricate and deeply submerged concept. Babri demolition or Hashimpura or apparent religious bias of the PAC or killing of Mrs. Gandhi by her bodyguards or Jaipur/ Hyderabad/ Varanasi bomb blasts shall all be seen in a holistic manner and not in isolation.
Religion is opium, said the Lord of the New Faith which resulted in thousands of people killed, tortured and eliminated. And he was absolutely correct. It is the most powerful drug invented so far. But more importantly, it comes in various shapes and sizes- in many Brands. And no brand is less fatal or potent than the other.
Thus, with all due regards, I would like to state that some of Sri Rai’s view look lop-sided and skewed in one particular direction.

Amitabh Thakur,
SP,
Intelligence,
Faizabad,
UP, India
# 94155-34526

Anonymous said...

i am sure this story provide enough reason for the muslims to bomb one more indian city , they wouldn't notice the fact that one hindu is fighting for this case for muslim , so go ahead and plant some more bombs.

Anonymous said...

As a teacher of journalism, a documentary film maker, and Christian in the Protestant reformed tradition, I'm deeply affected by the courage and the perseverance of your writing and work. The South Asian Contact Group alerted me to your blog spot - a really bright light in cyberspace. Thank you Sri Rai.

Anonymous said...

No body is sure Muslims Bombs the city or Hindus. Criminals are Criminals Doesn't matter they are in Police service or in any other prestigious position. However Muslims are always blamed of any wrong because they are weak and powerless. Their voice will be suppressed. Thanks to the Good Hindu's the are the treasures of the mother land India. In future their effort may bring peace and harmony among the citizens. But at this moment they would also have to face a bit resistance from the Hate Engineering Department.

Anonymous said...

Stop living in your own world and see who bombed Mumbai ? Dawood a muslim . Who attacked Akshardham ? LET a m Muslim organization . Who attacked Ayodhaya ? LeT a muslim Organization . Muslims are always blamed because of this past. Muslims are not weak and powerless if you compare them with SC/ST who have been suppressed for lot more . Even Sikhs were suppressed but they never bombed all over India , they rose and cooperated with police to weed out wrong from there society and now they are living happily so grow up and read history.

Anonymous said...

Offcourse Muslims are not powerless bcaz they are having the power of Faith of Almighty God. But there are some situations in this country. You people are saying that who bombed Mumbai ? Dawood a muslim . Who attacked Akshardham ? LET a m Muslim organization . Who attacked Ayodhaya ? LeT a muslim Organization. But you people know what is the reason behind that. Who demolished the BABRI MASJID you HINDUS. Who done the communal Rights in Gujrat you Hindus. What happened to this case in past 21 years???? Nothing is happened and nothing will happened. To in kiye karmo ki keemat to chukani padegi na !!!

Anonymous said...

Who is more anti national ??????? Who is the terrorist ????

Modi engineered mass massacre. He is not blamed as terrorist.
Hashimpura police did massacre will not be named as terrorist.
Before Bombay Blast Thakry and company did massacres in Bombay, he again was not blamed as terrorist. Malyana police. Bhagalpur police .....and so on
A long list of police involvement in many false encounters, they all are not blamed as terrorist. Why because they killed muslims.....
After independence politicians have their own interest, so they act according to their calculations not as justice. After Babri Masjid Demolition and mass killing of Muslims in various cities and the police and politicians involvement in all killings, for the sake of column fulfilment the Govt. banned some Hindutwa organazation. To balance the vote they also banned Jamaate Islami for no reason. How SIMI people are blamed tortured and the media was provided Masala to engineer false stories against Muslims?
Any how this trend and mentality will definitely create anger and sense of insecurity in their own nation among Muslims. Involved police are still enjoying their post and feeding the criminal politicians.
These people are more anti national than so called Muslim terrorists.
Recent Bomb Blast is meant to give political benefit to Modi and Bhajpa.
Who can do this? Muslims or Guess ?????

Anonymous said...

Regarding "Who is more anti national ? "
So your argument is Modi / Thackery / Some people in BJP did injustice to Muslims so Muslims have the right to plant bombs and kill Hindus that also means every person who has sense of injustice should plant bomb.

Well read History of India and see for yourself which community Hindus or Muslims should have more sense of injustice.

Anonymous said...

Muslims are not anti national
U say Who demolished BABRI MASJID........I say who made BABRI masjid and where and why in that place only..becos of hatred of ur community from ages..again who made TAJ MAHAL of TEJO MAHAL..u guys or ur ancestors and cooked up a cock and bull story..so do not forget..what u sow..so u reap!

Anonymous said...

First stop bringing Allah in every conversation so that conversations can move forward otherwise it is hard to say anything . Now to answer your question Babri Masjid was made on a Hindu temple so it was bound to go down now if you think it was wrong then you should have approached the judiciary and if you think state was partial then you can leave the country . Gujrat happened because of Godhra had there not been Godhra no Hindu would have killed you . Nothing happened to these cases in past 21 years because that is how judiciary in India works even Rajiv Gandhi / Indira Gandhi case took some years and there were PM with government. This is a country were even in rape case which has a direct witness takes years now by doing bomb blast and justifying them you are losing your sympathizer and making a statement that you still dont belong to this land. Even in Sikh riots there is lot of injustice but Sikhs never came out and blasted the country . There has been injustice on SC/ST for past 25000 years and they are not blasting the country.
Hindus also have sense of injustice because Muslims came to this land plundered it , divided it , destroyed there temples in India , Pakistan and Bladesh , made millions homeless/orphans/widow in Kashmir , they cannot buy land in Kashmir which is land of shiva ...one can go on and write a book.
So next time when you decide to give "Karmo ki Keemat" think of all this as there are arguments on other sides also and pushing Hindus to the limit by bombing can erase Muslims from this land as Hindus are some 80% and it doesn't good anything to the country.

Jai Hind.

PS : I am a Jain and my father worked extensively for Muslims when there were riots in Bhopal after Babri Masjid by risking himself .

Anonymous said...

one lakh demolished temples vs one babri masjid
Submitted by chathrapathi;
Mr narrow minded muslim know that mohammedan arabian islam destroyed in india one lakh temples appoximately for the last 1200 years. we did not destroy babari masjid we have reclaimed one of the temples lost during the reign of osama of the medieval age mr babur another buffoon from islam.read history before commenting, go for archeological evidence,dig there you will find it.if hindus were to really avenge they would have to destroy one lakh masjids and reclaim their lost temples and then again demolish one lakh masjids and construct temples over them for atleast 500 years.are u ready now to face the justice owing to your ancestors's cruelties on our hindu ancestors.

सतीश पंचम said...

We don't know when this kind of religious battle will stop. I think never.....because in human history, it starts after human civilisation got emerged and this fighting still continued to make history.
Horrifying narrartion of crime spot.

Anonymous said...

Rakesh Kaushik ने कहा…
hmari nayay prnali me bahut si kamiyan hai. unhe door karne ke liye kuch jaroor karna chiye. bhagwaan se dua hai ke natija aapke paksh me aaye


ab lekh likhne par: kya sajeev chitran kiya hai aapne
adbhut

Rakesh Kaushik

September 3, 2008 12:15 AM

Anonymous said...

manvinder bhimber ने कहा…
aapko jeh bhi pata haoga ki sabhi musalmaan Meerut ke Hashimpura ke tha....
Mai us din Hashimpur ki galiuo mai reporting ke liye pahunchi thee...bada bura manjar thaaa,,,
ek police adhkaari ne PAC ko raka lekin PAc ke jawaan ne unhi per nishana dikhuya....wo manjar mujhe kai dbi tak nahi bhoola tha.
khair ....system hi essa ho to kya kahiyega

September 3, 2008 12:37 AM

Anonymous said...

अफ़लातून ने कहा…
पद्माजी की कहानियां पढ़ने का इन्तेज़ार रहेगा । आज पांच नगरों पर सर्वेश्वर की पंक्तियां पोस्ट की हैं।इस पर मनविन्दर ने वहां पूछा,'मेरठ को क्यों भूल गये?' तो वहां आपके लेख की कड़ी दे दी ।

September 3, 2008 12:56 AM

Anonymous said...

Arvind Mishra ने कहा…
आदरणीय विभूति नारायण राय जी के वक्तित्व कृतित्व दोनों से परिचित हूँ -

September 3, 2008 5:57 AM

Anonymous said...

बेनामी ने कहा…
दिल दहला देने वाली घटना है !

September 3, 2008 6:12 AM

Anonymous said...

अपने से बाहर ने कहा…
साहसी लेख है, बल्कि दुस्साहसी लेख लिखें, तो अधिक उचित होगा. धन्यवाद सर.

September 3, 2008 10:51 AM

Anonymous said...

हरि ने कहा…
जो लोग इस लेख या विभूति जी के इस अनुभव को साहसी बता रहें हैं वह विभूति नारायण को नहीं जानते। उनके कमिटमेंट लेबल को नहीं जानते। हकीकत यही है कि ये एेसा एक दु:स्वपन है जो न जिंदगी भर विभूति जी का पीछा छोड़ेगा, न हाशिमपुरा के लोगों का आैर न उन मीडियाकर्मियों का जिन्होंने मेरठ में 1987 की त्रासदियों को कवर किया है। मैं भी एक एेसा ही इंसान हूं जिसने मेरठ के दंगों के सच को भुगता है। दिनमान के रिपोर्टर जसवीर उर्फ जस्सी जो दुर्भाग्य से इस दुनिया में नहीं हैं आैर मैं सबसे पहले मलियाना पंहुचे थे। जहां पीएसी ने अंधाधुंध गोलियां चलाकर ग्रामीणों का नरसंहार किया था। रात ग्यारह बजे वहां से लौटकर दंगे के इस सच को जस्सी ने बीबीसी में फ्लैश कराया था। मैने उसे अमर उजाला में लिखा था। लेकिन खबर प्रकाशन के लिए तमाम जद्दोजहद के बाद तभी जा सकी थी जब बीबीसी ने उसे प्रसारित कर दिया था। उसके बाद कुछ संगठनों ने अमर उजाला की प्रतियां जलाईं थीं। पत्रकारों को भुगतने की धमकी दी थी। हाशिमपुरा तो पीएसी की इंतहा थी। मैं जानता हूं कि यदि विभूति गाजियाबाद के एसएसपी न होते आैर चौथी दुनिया न होता तो हाशिमपुरा का नंगा सच कभी सामने न आता। मैं दंगे के दौरान हाशिमपुरा की घटना का काफी हद तक साक्षी रहा हूं। मैने नहर पर नरसंहार की घटना से पहले हाशिमपुरा की फायरिंग भी देखी है जब एक तरफ से पुलिस गोलियां चला रही थी तो दूसरी तरफ से दंगाई छतों पर चढ़कर बराबर का मुकाबला कर रहे थे लेकिन इसका ये मतलब नहीं कि आप चंद सिरफिरे बदमाशों के लिए सामुहिक नरसंहार कर दो। मुझे याद है कि वीरेंद्र सेंगर किस तरह जान हथेली पर रखकर काम कर रहे थे। मैं जिस गली में घुसता वहां वीरेंद्र मिल जाते आैर पूछते तुम्हें पुलिस व पीएसी नहीं रोकती। लेकिन अफसोस कि आज तक हाशिमपुरा को इंसाफ नहीं मिला आैर न उन दंगाईयों को सजा जिन्होंने दंगे में निर्दोषों का खून बहाया।
विभूति जी आपको ये कांड हमेशा एक दु:स्वपन ही लगेगा। सिस्टम के आगे आप जैसा आदमी भी एक जगह पर आकर लाचार हो जाता है। यही सच है। कड़वा आैर नंगा सच।

September 9, 2008 5:39 AM

Anonymous said...

So far as i know, Hashimpura was an apparent reaction to rape and burnt alive of about a dozen hindu women in jalikothi similar as gujrat riots were after godra train massacre. Muslims should realize that hindus are no more cowards.
it was only after hashimpura, peace and normalcy returned and is till date prevalent in Meerut. Thanks to PAC timely actions.