Kanpur violence: Police action one-sided, claim Muslims

As police have arrested 36 people in connection with rioting and violence in Kanpur, Muslims claim that police action in the communal clash is one-sided and members of the minority community are being targeted while the real perpetrators of violence are allowed to go scot free.

“If there is violence, there are two sides. The police have taken action against one side while the other side which is equally responsible for the crime is being let off,” Shaher Qazi Abdus Qudoos Hadi said.

In support of his claim, he said all the 36 people named in the FIRs were from one community. “Why members of other communities are not arrested or FIR is lodged against them,” he asks.

Hadi claims that he and his sons were manhandled when he went to pacify people at the call of the Kanpur police commissioner. “It is for everyone to see. There is video evidence in favour of this. Yet the police arrested one of my aides,” he said.

Sana, mother of two claims that her husband Mohd Nasir was at Bakarmandi, some 5 km from the spot of violence but was arrested by the police. The police had come to our house to arrest some of our relatives but failing to find them, police took my husband away and is one of the 36 accused named in the FIR, she said.

She says that one of her relatives had lodged a complaint against BJP spokesperson for her blasphemous statement at the Colonelganj police station. "My husband has nothing to do with that complaint, still, he was arrested,” she said.

A handle HindutvaWatch showed a Muslim men being thrashed by a crowd as a policeman looks on. Later the man is rescued by other policemen.

Shifa Anam, a Nursing student said that her brother Sajid Hussain was arrested when he was coming to pick her up from the school. “Sajid is not seen in the video, still police picked him up and named him as an accused,” she said.

One Hridayesh Mishra shared a video showing Muslim men ransacking vehicles parked on the roadside.

Joint Commissioner of Police Anand Prakash Tiwari has refuted these charges saying people have been arrested on the basis of video evidence. “We have a fool-proof case against the accused and will prove their charges in the court,” he said.