Congress MLA Mamman Khan being produced earlier than a courtroom in reference to the Nuh violence on September 17
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
On Sunday, the Nuh district courtroom in Haryana prolonged the police remand of Congress MLA Mamman Khan by two days, following a request from the police for a five-day extension. This extension is expounded to 3 extra instances filed in opposition to him on the Nagina police station, all stemming from the incitement of violence in Nuh on July 31.
Khan, a two-time contestant earlier than securing his seat as a Congress MLA in 2019, was arrested on September 15 for his alleged involvement within the communal violence that rocked Nuh and its neighbouring districts on that day. The violence had left six folks lifeless and a whole bunch injured, turning the city right into a police bastion. Even now, buses with police personnel are stationed all through the city, and SMS and web companies stay suspended.
Additionally Learn | Has police inaction and administrative failure fuelled the communal clashes in Haryana’s Nuh?
Satish Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Ferozepur Jhirka (Nuh), instructed Frontline that Khan had been summoned a number of occasions for questioning concerning the violence earlier than his arrest. After Khan’s arrest, three extra FIRs have been added in opposition to him on Sunday by Nuh police. The arrest of the Congress MLA got here three days after the police had booked cow vigilante and Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar. The Haryana police’s lack of ability to arrest Manesar, regardless of video proof of his provocative speech earlier than the violence in Nuh in July, had sparked huge outrage on social media.
Monu Manesar, also called Mohit Yadav, is the chief of Haryana authorities’s cow safety process drive in Gurgaon. He had been at massive for six months after being implicated in a homicide case. Manesar got here to public consideration when he was named within the homicide of Waris Khan, a youth from Haryana. Waris, a mechanic, was allegedly crushed by cow vigilantes led by Manesar, who had been chasing his car on suspicion of cattle smuggling.
Manesar’s arrest had elicited excessive reactions from Hindutva outfits, together with the VHP and Bajrang Dal, which expressed anger and disappointment, stating that the ruling BJP had failed to guard Manesar. Following Manesar’s arrest, the Haryana police transferred his custody to the Rajasthan police, which is investigating the vigilante’s function within the Junaid-Nasir homicide case, the place he’s an accused. Nasir and Junaid, two Muslim males from Rajasthan, have been allegedly kidnapped, crushed, and burned alive by Bajrang Dal members on February 15, 2023.
Whereas Manesar’s arrest after six months of being named as an accused within the homicide case stunned many, Khan’s arrest is being considered by many as a case of political vendetta as a result of he was the one MLA who had raised the Nasir-Junaid homicide case within the Haryana Meeting. Shortly after the killings of Junaid and Nasir, Khan had recognized Monu Manesar as a kind of liable for the murders and demanded sturdy motion in opposition to him, elevating the difficulty within the Finances Session of the Meeting in February.
Additionally Learn | How the demolition drive in Nuh went in opposition to courtroom orders and due procedures
Khan had additionally offered pictures depicting acts of violence allegedly dedicated by Manesar, in addition to photographs of Manesar carrying weapons. He questioned within the Meeting, “On what foundation has the federal government allowed them to own weapons?” Manesar’s arms licence, which had been granted to him in 2019, was revoked after the murders of Junaid and Nasir.
Following Khan’s accusations, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had introduced a committee to research the matter. Nevertheless, BJP members accused Khan of inciting violence via his “provocative” statements within the Haryana Meeting.
A balancing act?
Many see the State authorities’s determination to arrest each Khan and Manesar as a balancing act, making an attempt to appease Hindutva forces whereas additionally being seen as taking motion in opposition to those that provoked violence.
Aftab Ahmed, the Congress MLA from Nuh, known as Khan’s arrest “witch-hunting” and “vendetta politics.” Additional, the federal government’s lax method in direction of cow vigilantes is obvious in the way it dealt with Manesar’s case. He acted with impunity, brandishing weapons and terrorising whole villages together with his staff, each in actual life and on social media.
The problem of cow vigilantism is a grave concern in Haryana, with quite a few incidents in recent times involving cow vigilantes attacking and lynching Muslim youth on suspicion of cow smuggling, making a local weather of worry and insecurity among the many Muslim neighborhood.
