Digvijaya Singh’s PIL blames MP govt for Dec clashes, court seeks govt response

Madhya Pradesh’s additional advocate general Pushyamitra Bhargava said the state government has been given six weeks to respond to Digvijaya Singh’s petition on the December 2020 communal clashes in three MP districts, Ujjain, Indore and Mandsaur.

Published on: Jun 8, 2021, 20:05:45 IST

By Shruti Tomar

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Bhopal: The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court has asked the MP government to reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) that accuses the authorities of negligence in dealing with communal clashes following a campaign to collect funds for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the state government’s senior law officer said on Tuesday.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has petitioned the high court over communal clashe in MP’s three districts in December last year, says state government didn’t act (HT File Photo/Sonu Mehta)

“We received the copy of the PIL on Monday so I requested the court to grant time to reply. The court has given (the state government) six weeks to submit a counter reply,” Madhya Pradesh’s additional advocate general Pushyamitra Bhargava said.

The 33-page petition filed by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said the MP government did not take steps to stop the clashes that erupted in December 2020 in three MP districts, Indore, Dhar and Ujjain, after a campaign to mobilise funds for the Ayodhya temple.

“This left a trail of communal violence, breach of peace and communal harmony and destruction of immovable-movable property of the victims and otherwise,” the former chief minister’s petition said.

Singh said he supported the “pious work of construction of Shri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya” but the collection of funds must be voluntary. Also, he said, members of the minority community “should not be coerced or threatened to pay donation for this pious purpose”.

Some organisations targeted “members of the minority community of Madhya Pradesh in order to show their dominance and breach communal harmony in the State of Madhya Pradesh,” the petition said, referring to some incidents of violence when the rallies passed through Muslim-dominated areas.

The state government and the police appeared to have been “inactive and negligent in performing their statutory and administrative duties”, he said, arguing that the communal violence in the three districts demonstrated an attempt to spread the violence.

Singh’s petition said the government officials concerned not only acted negligently but at certain places, witnessed the entire episode without acting against the culprit.

Lawyer Ravindra Singh Chhabra, who filed the petition for Singh, said he had submitted video clips, WhatsApp chats and other documentary evidence to back up his charge.

Madhya Pradesh director general of police, Vivek Johri refused to comment. “The matter is in court now so I can’t comment on it.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shruti Tomar
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.Read More

Home/Cities/Bhopal News/Digvijaya Singh’s PIL Blames MP Govt For Dec Clashes, Court Seeks Govt Response