With the toll in the Muzaffarnagar communal violence reaching 31 on Monday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s government came under scathing attack for its failure to act on time to prevent the deaths and destruction. More than 60 people have been injured in the clashes so far.
Though there was no fresh violence on Monday, five more bodies were recovered taking the toll to 31. The situation remained tense, but incident-free, while the Army continued its flag march in the districts of Muzaffarnagar and parts of Shamli and Meerut.
For the third day, curfew was strictly imposed in Muzaffarnagar and the Army, police and para-military forces didn’t allow rioters a free run.
The riots broke out after the Maha Panchayat convened by a community on Saturday and failure on the part of the local administration, forcing the State government to call the Army.
The police have registered criminal cases against BJP, BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leaders for holding the Maha Panchayat and inciting communal passion by their inflammatory speeches. In a damage control move, the State removed SSP of Muzaffarnagar Subhash Chand Dubey and DIG Saharanpur D S Mishra and named a fresh set of officers. The government also sent a report to the Centre and Governor B L Joshi on the riots and the tense situation. The report has blamed the local administration for its inability to sense the communal mood after the three killings in the district on August 27.
A BJP delegation, led by Ravi Shankar Prasad, and an RLD group, led by Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ajit Singh, were prevented from visiting the riot-hit areas.
Late in the evening, the UP government announced setting up of an inquiry commission headed by retired Justice Vishnu Sahai to probe the Muzaffarnagar violence.
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