Faridabad communal violence: Politicians demand immediate arrest of accused

Faridabad: Leaders of different political parties on Monday demanded immediate arrest of the accused in the recent communal violence in Atali village in Faridabad, even as the affected families refused to return home and continued to stay at the relief camp in Ballabgarh police station. [caption id=“attachment_2274186” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] CPI(M) central committee member Tapan Sinha, accompanied by state party leaders, and MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, who met the affected families, also slammed the governments at the Centre and state and the district administration over the insecurity to the minority community. Sinha, accompanied by Comrade Surender Singh, Secretary of state wing of the party and a team of party members, accused a certain community of hatching a plan of violence well in advance. He said that the violence against the minority community that left over 20 houses burnt, was a well thought out and unprovoked attack. Confusion on the ownership of the land, where a mosque was being constructed, was deliberately being created he said, adding that the land is owned by the Waqf from 1972. At least five persons were injured and over 15 houses burnt on 25 May night when people from the two communities clashed over construction of the religious structure adjacent to the other community’s religious site. A few years back there used to be a graveyard which was shifted elsewhere since the area became densely inhabited. The graveyard was shifted to a place allotted by the government for the purpose, Sinha said. He accused the police and administration of not taking enough steps for preventing the riots, first and later, not doing the needful to nab the culprits. Sinha noted that the arrangements were totally insufficient for the people in this scorching heat as women and children are forced to live in tents with no arrangement for drinking water. He said the state government was “totally indifferent” to the problems of minorities. Neither the Chief Minister, nor his senior ministers have made any statement to console the aggrieved section of society, he said and demanded the immediate arrest of the accused named in the FIR. He also called for immediate repair of houses affected by the fire by the local administration and called upon the people of Faridabad to extend their help to the victims in order to increase the mutual understanding between the communities. MIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi after meeting the affected families accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not taking care of the minorities despite giving slogans like “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”. He said it was very unfortunate that such communal violence has happened in a village 50 kilometers from the capital. He also expressed dissatisfaction on the arrangements made for the victims in the relief camp even after one week of the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the people responsible for the violence. Hindu leader Sadhvi Prachi is also expected to visit the place later. PTI