E-Paper
June 10 violence: Officials to review peace panel members in Prayagraj dist
Backgrounds, antecedents of each member to be reviewed; only ‘clean’ people to be allowed as members
Alert after the June 10 violence in Atala, a review of peace committees in the district will soon be carried out to ensure that its members are really helping the administration in maintaining peace and order, and are not misusing their position on peace committees to fan passions and foment trouble.
The district administration officials will now carry out a verification of the backgrounds of the committee members, enquire about their reputations and check if they have a criminal record. Dubious characters with suspicious antecedents, or those with any record at any police station, will not be entertained at peace committee meetings any more, officials said.
Arrested for being the alleged mastermind of the violence in the Atala area on June 10, Javed Mohd himself was a peace committee member and was invited to its meetings on different occasions. Many meetings were held at Kareli and Khuldabad police stations while district level meetings were held at police lines and were presided over by senior police officials.
Javed Mohd was also present in the meeting held on the evening of June 9, a day before the violence at Atala. Photographs taken allegedly after the meeting, in which Javed can be seen with senior police officials, had also gone viral on social media platforms after his arrest.
Police officials later said that Javed was seen at a few meetings of peace committees where he certainly talked about peace but actually did nothing to maintain it. Instead, his mobile phone revealed that he sent messages to people urging them to reach Atala for protests against the alleged insult to Prophet Mohammad, officials added.
SSP Prayagraj Ajay Kumar said the basic criterion for peace committee membership is a good and clean reputation among people of their area and no criminal record. Persons renowned in their areas and having influence on locals are called to the police station and district level peace committee meetings.
A peace committee member of the Old City area, Mohd Sajid, welcomed the decision of the district administration to review antecedents of all peace committee members. “I have nothing to hide and I am sure my fellow committee members too have nothing to hide, but there is no harm in checking the background of each member,” he said.
Another peace committee member, Nadim Ali, said that peace committees played a huge role in ensuring peace before and after Friday prayers on June 17 in the Old City areas. “We cooperate fully with the administration and always make an appeal to people in our areas to maintain peace always,” Ali said.
