Yet another Navratri celebration and garba event has been attacked by Islamist radicals, this time in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh.
Prime accused Salman Khan first started hitting the Durga Puja pandal on Saturday night with his bike while performing stunts. Villagers objected and complained to his father. The next night, Khan returned with a large mob and assaulted the puja organizers using an axe and other weapons. Later, the Muslim mob threw stones on devotees performing garba, injuring women.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against 19 people of Surjani village for attempted murder and rioting at Sitamau police station in Mandsaur on Sunday night.
“Devotees were playing Garba while worshipping Mata on Saturday night in Surjani village of Sitamau police station area. Salman Khan started hitting his bike on the pandal. One of the organisers, Shivlal Patidar, objected and also complained to his father. On Sunday, Salman along with others reached the Garba venue and started beating Shivlal and other organisers. Salman hit the head of a villager, Mahesh, with an iron axe,” Mandsaur superintendent of police Anurag Sujaniya said. He added that some of the accused are ‘habitual offenders’.
Police reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The senior police officer said there was tension in the village because of the incident and police personnel were deployed in the village to hold peace. Mahesh Patidar and Shivlal Patidar were taken to the district hospital where their condition is said to be serious. 11 people have been arrested in this case so far.
On Tuesday, the administration razed the illegal houses of three accused including Salman Khan, the prime accused in the case. “The houses were constructed illegally so we demolished them. We are checking the property papers of all the accused and action will be taken accordingly,” said Mandsaur sub-divisional magistrate Sandeep Shiva. The illegal construction of more than 4,500 sq ft worth more than Rs 4.5 crore was demolished with the help of the revenue department.
As per Nai Dunia, other Hindus who were injured in the attack are Shyamdas Bairagi and a lady, Bahgubai Patidar. The names of the accused are – Salman (s/o Aklu Khan), Raees, Zafar, Sohail, Shoaib, Gulnawaz, Arman, Haroon, Bhura (s/o Azam), Fardeen, Kale (s/o Mahmood), Sarfaraz, Rehan, Sajid, Firoz, Faizu and Shahzad.
Apart from Salman Khan, illegal properties of Raees and Zafar were demolished.
It is worth noting that all the victims in this case are ordinary Hindus from OBC communities i.e. part of the ‘bahujan’ samaj. But not one of the secular, feudal parties that claim to fight for bahujan rights has spoken up as yet against this assault.
