In light of the allegations swirling around about women being gang-raped and some even missing since 31 July when Islamists launched a brutal surprise assault on unsuspecting Hindu devotees in Nuh, HinduPost spoke to VHP Joint General Secretary Dr. Surendra Jain, who was part of the Jal Abhishek Yatra that day.

Incidentally, HinduPost had earlier also tried reaching out to Nuh Police regarding these allegations but our calls were either not answered or disconnected once we mentioned what we wanted to talk about. In a statement to media on Aug 5, Haryana ADGP Mamta Singh stated that ‘none of the women devotees who were stranded at a temple during the riots in Nuh were raped or molested by rioters’.

Dr. Jain was part of the yatra from the beginning. He said that after performing Jal Abhishek at Nalhar Mahadev mandir, the initial batch of yatris had started proceeding towards Ferozepur Jhirka. The yatra covers three ancient Mahabharata period Shiva temples – it enters Mewat from Sohna, begins from Nalhar Mahadev Temple, Nuh, then goes to Jhirakeshwar Mahadev Temple in Ferozepur Jhirka rural, and then to Singar (Shrangar) village in Punhana block where devotees worship at Radha Krishna Temple and finally at Shringeshwar Mahadev Temple.

The attack started as soon as the yatra began from the Nalhar Mahadev mandir at 1 PM.

Dr. Jain stated that as per his knowledge, no woman, either from the yatra or those living locally, has gone missing or was raped. VHP is in touch with local Hindus in Nuh as well as all yatris who had come from elsewhere. Regarding the reports of women’s clothing being found in the fields along the route taken by the yatra, he said that should be verified and probed. He said the number of people who died in the Islamist mob violence in Nuh is at 5 as of now. As at least 80 also suffered injuries that day, so it is possible that eyewitnesses assumed some of those injured had passed away, which is causing them to report a higher death count.

Dr. Jain said there were reportedly ~ 800 police personnel, including home guards, deployed for this yatra, and organizers had informed the authorities well in advance that up to 10-15 thousand devotees were expected. It is pertinent to note that devotees were proceeding in batches to the various temples, so even at 1 PM while some people had started from Nalhar Mahadev mandir, others were still arriving from the Sohna side.

When the violence broke out around 1.30 PM, 3000 devotees ended up taking refuge in the mandir, said Dr. Jain. At that time, police was nowhere to be seen and many had fled seeing the ferocity of the attack. It was the Hindu youth who defended the group and positioned themselves at the mandir gate and boundaries to ward off the Islamist mob. The few Hindus who were carrying licensed arms like Ashok Baba of Bajrang Dal returned fire to the Islamist gunmen raining bullets from the hillside.

A few hours later, ADGP Mamta Singh arrived with a contingent of police, and it was only then that police too fired back at the Islamists in order to provide cover for evacuating the stuck pilgrims. We can hear ADGP Singh’s account of what she faced in the video below –

“In a police person’s 35-36 year career, such situations as the one I witnessed that day are rare. The situation was critical when I reached there…2500-3000 people were stuck in the mandir, our force was insufficient to counter the large-scale intense firing coming from 3 sides from the hills. There was only one exit road. I ordered my men to return fire to create cover (for evacuation) and for deterrence. When dusk approached and the firing didn’t stop, people started panicking. So at 6.15 PM, we decided to start evacuating people in groups, so that they wouldn’t present an easy target for the gunmen. First women and children, then elderly, then the youth. Even as we were moving out, the firing continued – we were lucky that the bullets hit only the vehicles. We then encouraged all the devotees, including women, who had fallen to the ground to stand up again and proceed. We took them around 500m on foot to our buses, and took them to the police lines, and later by 2.30 AM in the night they were escorted back to their homes. The road to the mandir was completely blocked with burnt vehicles, with fires raging from burst CNG cylinders and impossible to even walk..so we had to take people through the fields”, says ADGP Mamta Singh in the above video.

Dr. Jain said that he is now hearing that some sections of police had advance intelligence about this attack, but he doesn’t know why that wasn’t shared with higher ups. He said that criminals in Mewat have no fear of police. This is a known fact, in 2019 the Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava had submitted a report to Punjab & Haryana HC stating that police personnel in Mewat are working in a quite hostile atmosphere, facing danger to their life as well as safety. There have been dozens of cases of police teams being attacked by entire villages when they go to arrest a criminal in Mewat.

A recent case of the Nuh SHO being arrested for raping a woman who had complained about a cyber fraud, is another indicator of how little trust ordinary citizens must be having right now in police. The fact that all 3 MLAs from Nuh district are Islamist MLAs of Congress, and one of them Mamman Khan had openly threatened to crush gau rakshaks like onions, also raises serious doubt on ability of local police to function without undue pressure.

Dr. Jain also told us that it is suspected that most of the masterminds and key persons involved in this pre-planned Islamist attack have fled to neighboring states, especially Rajasthan. At the moment, Rajasthan Police does not inspire confidence that it will act against these criminals, as they seem more interested in harassing gaurakshaks. Hence it is imperative that this entire probe be handed over the NIA or CBI, he added.

Dr. Jain also said that while VHP welcomes the Haryana government’s decision to finally allocate land to set up a new battalion of the CRPF’s anti-riot unit Rapid Action Force (RAF) in Nuh, just one battalion will not suffice and he demanded that at least 3 battalions must be set up.

When we asked him for his comments on the 4 points that Haryana CM ML Khattar had committed to in June 2020, after two independent fact-finding teams found evidence of large-scale persecution of Hindus living in Mewat including ‘‘Aurangzeb-like brutal atrocities on Dalits in Mewat”, Dr. Jain said that unfortunately none of those points had been acted upon.

Readers can find details of the two public probe reports – one commissioned by VHP that was headed by Maj. Gen.(retd) GD Bakshi, and the other commissioned by Valmiki Mahasabha of Haryana that was headed by retired judge Pawan Kumar – here and here. Many journalists have also shared their findings about repeated crimes against Hindus in this notorious Islamist no-go zone.

Could the loss of 5 precious lives, the injuries to dozens others, and the mental scarring and agony faced by thousands who merely wanted to practice their religion have been avoided, had the Haryana govt and the Indian State acted on the warning signs that have been flashing for many years now in Mewat?