Sangh rioters rule Surat, police watch

Sangh rioters rule Surat, police watch
MILIND GHATWAI

SURAT, AUGUST 6: A former councillor arrested for carrying arms and leading a mob of 500. Another ``unofficially'' charged with burning a constable's two-wheeler. The husband of yet another former councillor hacked to death for an old rivalry.

Has Surat paid the price for incompetent policing and the lawlessness of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party members? After five deaths, countlessinjuries, police atrocities and damage worth of lakhs of rupees in arson and looting, the answer seems to be yes. Even the police took the law into their hands, compounding the problem.

The communal fires that broke out on August 3 in the wake of the Gujarat Bandh call given by the VHP and other Hindu organisations are yet to douse in Surat. The police did little to anticipate trouble and allowed the situation to go out of hands.

Commissioner Kuldip Sharma says the state-wide alert was taken into account and preventive action taken but ``there are certain things that can still happen. The best of aircraft crash in spite of technological advances.''

He also rules out the allegation that the police were under instructions to go soft on rioters to prevent recurrence of last year's tragedy when eight youths were killed in police firing. ``Why are we not being praised for preventing a 1992-like situation.''

But more than the police, it is the lawlessness on part of the BJP cadre that has cost the city dearly. BJP activists even targeted police when things did not go their way. While the BJP has decided not to back former councillor Ganesh Prajapati who was caught with arms it is keeping its option open about Suresh Varodia who openly dared the police. Varodia has been charged with instigating a mob that torched a constable's two-wheeler.

Surat BJP president Pravin Naik says ``Sharma talks of law when we want him to understand the reality.'' He accuses the police of being very harsh on the rioters. He unwittingly owns up the allegation that the Bandh and the subsequent riots were caused by elements sympathetic to his party. ``They know all of us are branches of the same tree,'' he adds.

Knowing well that his neck is on the chopping block, Prajapati threatens: ``if they can't provide protection for such a small mistake I will ensure there is a split in the party.''

What clearly points an accusing finger at the police was the incident at the Rangavdhoot Society in the Rander area on Friday night. Policemen ransacked a house and beat up the residents.

One of them, Mohammed Nadeem, who sustained head injuries said, ``They were seven or eight SRP men and they just started beating us up, abusing and cursing us.''

Trouble began around 11pm on Friday when a mob of 50 threw stones at the Pakeezah society at Rander. The mob then entered the adjacent Rangavdhoot society along with a police jeep, residents said, and pointed towards the house.

``My mother came to our aid but she was pushed aside and we were beaten up,'' said Aslam Ghori, 23. The men were taken away to Rander police station. Commenting on the incident, Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya said: ``When the climate is such, incidents occur, there is nothing special.''

Most of the riot victims were innocent people who were targeted either by the police or by rioting mobs in different city areas. People who have suffered multiple injuries were admitted to the Maskati and New Civil hospitals here. Half the patients claimed that they had been deliberately targeted by policemen while they were returning home after work.

Sushan Sanatan (20), who has been admitted to the Maskati Hospital, said, ``I don't know what actually happened. I realised that something was wrong when the police opened fire and I fell, injuring my neck on pieces of glass that were strewn there.''

Another patient, Jasubhai Purohit (28), when asked about the incident said, ``Around 4,000 to 5,000 rioters took to the streets where our hotel is located. Policemen fired bullets without any aim. Suddenly, I felt a hard punch in my right thigh and I started running. A policeman caught hold of me and asked me to exercise on the road''.

Chandmian (60), a beggar, had received multiple injuries on his stomach. ``I was sitting at a masjid when some miscreants rushed towards me and started punching me in my stomach. I could not recognise the people who were beating me since I am blind.''

Huzefa Saifuddin (27), resident of Ganchisheri and a victim of rioting and arson, said, ``After closing my shop which is in Ganchisheri, I was resting outside it, when a group of five to 15 armed people started beating me with hockey sticks and swords. Later on, some of my Hindu friends moved me here where I got treated''.