Picture from left to right: A representation image of Kanwariya and screenshot from the viral footage showing miscreants flashing gun in the Yatra (Quint and Amar Ujala, respectively)
Almost ten days ago a peaceful Kanwar Yatra was attacked as it crossed a mosque in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. After stones were pelted at Kanwariya’s, miscreants entered the procession and opened fire via zip gun. Later, the video was shared widely on social media by left-liberals claiming it was the Hindus who started the attack and also shot a bullet in the middle of hundreds of people.
Since yesterday a video from the CCTV footage is getting viral on social media where two bearded men can be seen firing a zip gun. Once again controversy has erupted around the attack. (Watch the video here)
A little background
On July 23, Islamists pelted stones at the peaceful Kanwar Yatra as it crossed the Shahnoori Mosque in the Jogi Nawada locality in Bareilly.
As per reports, the incident took place at around 3 pm when Kanwariyas were en route to Budaun to fetch holy water from the river Ganga. The Kanwariya groups were to perform ‘Jal Abhishek’ at the nearby Vankandinath temple.
Nearly a dozen Kanwariyas and some police personnel were injured in the incident.
Rahul Bhati, Superintendent of Police (SP) City, Bareilly said that the kanwariya were on their way to get water from Kachhla Ghat when stones were pelted from Shahnoori mosque and nearby homes at the religious procession.
Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chowdhry said, “Today, Kanwar Yatra was coming out from the vicinity of Thana Baradari. As soon as this yatra passed near a religious place, a dispute arose over throwing something, which led to stone pelting. The footage obtained shows both sides throwing stones at each other.”
The Clashes over DJ in front of the Mosque
Before the Yatra was taken out, the Muslim side was not ready to allow the procession to be taken out near Shahnoori Mosque. The police were trying to stop Kanwariyas from adopting new methods of celebration during the Yatra.
For this, the officials met representatives from both sides. Muslims wanted to ensure that Hindus would not play DJ in the procession and that they would only allow 50 Hindus to pass by the mosque.
However, on the day of the procession, Hindus played DJ, and they were huge in numbers.
The Pre-planned attack
Visuals from the day went viral on social media, where Islamists were seen pelting stones. The Kanwariya said stones were coming from the roofs of the nearby houses and the Mosque.
According to locals, the attack was led by ex-corporator Usman Ali and his supporters, who pelted stones at the Kanwariyas from atop their houses.
Videos can be seen here and here.
What does the FIR say?
Organiser accessed the FIR registered in this case against unidentified miscreants by Sub-Inspector Amit Kumar at the Baradari police station on July 24.
In this FIR Kumar stated, that his team and he were patrolling near the Shahnoori Mosque. The dedicated route for the procession was– starting from Gosian Gautiya to Shahnoori Mosque, to Vankandinath temple to Suresh Sharma Nagar, to Satelite Squre to Kalibaadi, to Chaupal, to Lal Fatak to finally Kachla Ghat.
The patrolling team successfully took out the namazi’s from the Mosque who were there to attend Jauhar Namaz. Later the Kanwariya were asked to take the procession from the side of the Mosque. But as soon as the procession with DJ reached the Shahnoori Mosque, some people started gathering in front of the Mosque carrying white power in hand. They started throwing it towards the Kanwariya. Later, stones were pelted from all sides. As many as 200-250 people from both sides were involved in the pelting of stones.
The police action
Following this the police shot teargas shells and also did lathicharge. In this many Kanwariyas were injured and were admitted to the hospital.
As per the FIR the accused have been booked under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapons), 336 (endangering public life), 427 (mischief causing damage), 283 (omitting to take orders) and section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932 with sections 2 and 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
While speaking about the matter, Bareilly SSP Prabhar Chowdhary said, “So far, there is no information about anyone getting injured. A procession of kanwariyas was passing through the area (Jogi Nawada) around 3 pm.”
“As it went past a religious spot, there was a dispute… stones were pelted by some persons. When the footage was examined, it was seen that stones were hurled from both sides,” he added.
News Agency ANI reported, Bareilly SP City Rahul Bhati, says, “…In the Jogi Nawada area of Baradari police station area of Bareilly, some miscreants pelted stones at the Kanwar Yatra. More than a dozen Kanwar Yatris were injured in the stone pelting. Police officers reached the spot & restored peace…Everything will become clear after the investigation. Police have arrested one person in this whole case. A case has been registered. Further investigation is underway…”
The recent CCTV footage
Following the incident police were looking for the miscreants by tracking the CCTV footage of cameras installed in the area. Since yesterday, this video is making rounds on social media. In this video, two men can be seen firing a zip gun.
Organiser called the station house officer, Baradari on August 2, but the officer refused to disclose the identity of the accused saying the investigation is underway.
As per the reports, on August 1, the station house officer Baradari, Abishiek Singh and Sub Inspector Amit Kumar were suspended. The police also found the video, where miscreants were seen firing.
Police detained a religious leader and six others relating to the violence. The DJ operator has also been arrested. Other than this, two miscreants shown in the video are absconding and teams are trying to track them.
As per the police, the two are history sheeters and have many cases registered against them. One of them is a native of Chak Mahmood, whereas the other is a native of Narkulaganj area. A fresh FIR has also been instituted against them but the names of the accused are not disclosed yet.
Organiser will update this report as soon as the names of the accused are revealed.
Zubair caught spreading misinformation
Fake news peddler who often works as a shield for Islamists, Mohammad Zubair who is a self-proclaimed fact-checker and runs a propaganda website Alt-News, tried supporting Islamists after the incident. Sharing half video of the stone pelting, he tried Hiding the attackers.
“Hello, Deepak Chaurasia, why are you fuelling the fire by showing only one video? This is another video where Kanwariyas can be seen pelting stones in the presence of police force,” he claimed in a tweet. (The Tweet)
Zubair cropped the beginning part of the video where a Muslim mob was seen pelting stones at Kanwariyas to ensure that it was not visible that it was indeed the Muslim mob that started the attack against Hindus.
Now that, Bareilly police in their FIR have mentioned that the pelting started from the side of Islamists after Namaz, Zuabir should come up and share an apology for spreading misinformation.
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