Group hurls bomb at site hosting event by Dalits in Kanpur; 2 hurt
Katha organisers said the programme was held in open defiance to diktats allegedly issued by upper caste men against holding the event earlier.
A heavily armed group opened fire and hurled bombs at people gathered at a site where an event was being organised by the Dalit community, in Kanpur’s Saadh on Tuesday, police said. Two persons, who were said to have been injured in the attack, were admitted to a hospital in Kanpur.
The site where a Bodh Katha event was underway was vandalised and a statue of Sant Ravidas was allegedly desecrated.
Katha organisers said the programme was held in open defiance to diktats allegedly issued by upper caste men against holding the event earlier.
Locals alleged that police knew about the threat to the event days before it began, but did not even deploy police officials at the Katha site.
Joint commissioner of police (JCP) Anand Prakash Tiwari said an FIR had been registered against eight persons for violence at the site and three of them were in police custody. “Police are conducting raids to arrest all the accused named in the FIR. A heavy force of police personnel, including those from Provincial Armed Constabulary, has been deployed in the village,” he noted.
One of the accused named in the FIR is Manish Tiwari, the public relations officer of local Apna Dal MLA Saroj Kureel. Kureel was not available for her comments.
Pavan Kumar Sankhwar, one of the organisers of the Katha, said the event began on Monday night. “People who were upset with the event being organised launched a planned attack around 2 am. Those who were sleeping under tents were beaten, and the entire site was vandalised,” he said, adding the attackers resorted to indiscriminate firing and even hurled some crude bombs.
“They threatened that if the programme continued then they would kill everyone involved. Then they damaged the statue of Sant Ravidas,” said eye-witness Ram Sagar Paswan, on whose complaint the FIR was lodged. “They damaged chairs, and tables, and tore the literature; we had to run to protect ourselves.”
Pintoo Kushwaha, who had set up the tent, said his workers were badly injured in the attack. “The attackers came in five vehicles that were strategically parked outside and inside the village.”
Ghatampur ACP Dinesh Kumar Shukla said: “The attackers had left by the time police reached the village. An FIR has been registered on the complaint of Ram Sagar Paswan against Manish Tiwari, Chandra Bhan Mishra, Golu Mishra, Shivam Mishra, Jeetu Mishra, Arun Kotedar, Kinnar Mishra and Vishambhar Mishra. They have been accused of violence, vandalism, dacoity and attempt to murder, and also charged under the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.”
People from the upper castes in the village said the programme had been a source of contention between communities even before. A complaint was filed with the Ghatampur sub-divisional magistrate on December 16 urging him not to allow the event this year due to certain rituals, they said. Chandra Bhan Mishra, one of the accused named in the FIR, had stated in his complaint to the SDM that the event might lead to a riot in the village.
According to them, an effigy depicting brahmins was to be displayed during the programme, and it would have been dragged across the village with its face blackened and a shoe around its neck.
Ashish Ambedkar, one of the men who lodged a police complaint against the attackers, said the organisers had assured the other side that anything it found offensive would be done away with this year. “We had all made this commitment but three days ago police came to the village asking us not to organise the programme or else there may be firing and violence,” he said.
“To our shock, despite the threat perception, the local police did not deploy any policeman at the site and allowed the accused to attack the event and Dalits,” Ambedkar said. By the evening, members of the Bhim Army reached the village and started a dharna at the Katha site with the locals.