2022 Kanpur violence

Last updated

Kanpur violence
Date4 June 2022
Location
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Methods Public demonstration and clashes
Casualties
Death(s)none reported
Injuries40+
Arrested64 [1]

On June 3, hundreds of Muslims demonstrated after Friday prayers in Kanpur against the remarks on Muhammad made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Violence broke out after some Muslim demonstrators threw stones at police. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak and Yateemkhana areas of the city on Friday when some people tried to force shopkeepers to close down the shops. [6] [7]

Background

On 27 May 2022, Sharma participated in a debate on the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute on the Times Now television channel, in response to remarks by another speaker she perceived as derogatory to Shiva, she commented upon Muhammad and the age of one of his wives, Aisha, noting that Aisha was 6-years-old when married, and 9 when the marriage was consummated. [8]

Violence

The Muslim community had announced the closure of shops after Friday prayer over the remarks on the Prophet. From Thursday, an appeal was being made to close the shops by putting up posters in the area. Police officers and other officers reached the spot soon after the incident, tried to control the incident by using necessary force. [9]

Hayat Zafar Hashmi, chief of Maulana Mohammed Ali (MMA) Jauhar Fans Association called for a bandh (shutdown) of local shops in protest of comments from Sharma. They also planned to take out a procession and called to shut down shops at parade market during which they confronted with the members of other community as a result of which clashes broke out. [10] [11]

Other incidents of violence included damages to several vehicles. Unconfirmed reports suggested some protesters threw crude bombs at the law enforcement officials. [2]

The clashes occurred at Nai Sadak, Yateemkana and Parade area of Kanpur. [12] Protesters pelted stones, fired shots, and lobbed petrol bombs at law enforcement officials who in return used batons to control the mob. [13]

Aftermath

After the violence, few shops remained open in the Muslim-dominated areas such as Becon Ganj, Yatim Khana and Nai Sarak. [14]

On 4 June, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath talked with enforcement officials via video conference and directed the officials to take strict action against those responsible for the violence. He also asked for increased deployment of police force in affected areas and regular patrolling in the sensitive areas of the district. [2]

Rashtriya Lok Dal condemned the violence and prompted for peace. [2]

On 5 June, flag marches were held in the affected areas of the city, and companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) were deployed. [14]

Lucknow police were holding peace meetings with Muslim groups in Kanpur. [14]

BJP leader Mohsin Raza said the violence was pre-planned to coincide with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the region. [9]

Editors Guild of India blamed some news channels for intentionally "creating circumstances that target vulnerable communities by spewing hatred towards them and their beliefs". [15]

Investigation

Initially, the Uttar Pradesh Police Saturday booked 500 people over the charges of rioting and arrested 18. [12] [13]

The city police commissioner constituted a SIT for detailed investigation in connection with rioting and violence in Kanpur's Parade area. FIRs was lodged in the case in which 40 people have been charged with rioting and 1,000 others have been mentioned as unidentified. [16] The Uttar Pradesh Police on June 4 arrested the main accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi and three others were also arrested from the Hazaratganj police station area of Lucknow. The police have also found documents of four organizations like AICC, SDPI, CFI and RIF have been found with Hashmi. [16] [17]

The Kanpur Police has identified local Muslim leader Hayat Zafar Hashmi, national president of the Maulana Muhammad Jauhar Ali Fans Association, as the main conspirator behind the violence that erupted in the city, he was arrested from Lucknow. [2] It is alleged that Hashmi incited the people, which led to stone pelting and clashes between two groups. In the past, Hashmi was also allegedly involved in violent demonstrations against the proposed CAA and the NRC in Kanpur. [9] Police were also investigating the links between protestors and the Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). [14] Evidence of foreign funding through transactions in bank accounts of the accused have been also discovered. [18]

On 4 June, Kanpur police commissioner Vijay Singh Meena said that the gangster act will be imposed on the accused. [14]

On 5 June, a curfew has been imposed in Bareilly till 3 July after a Muslim cleric Tauqir Raza announced large protests for 10 June. [19]

As of 7 June, about 50 were arrested. [20]

The FIR has been registered against three individuals who operated Twitter handles such as 'Duggalsahab15', 'shivaisrael' and 'AkhandBharat', and two Facebook account holders Abu Zaid and Kaushal Patel. [21]

A petrol pump situated nearby the Deputy Padav was sealed crossing on 7 June after a CCTV footage showed people taking fuel in bottles prior to violence. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bajrang Dal</span> Hindu nationalist militant organisation

Bajrang Dal is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, and began spreading more in the 2010s throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Front of India</span> Banned Indian Muslim political organisation

Popular Front of India (PFI) is an Islamic political organisation in India, that engages in a radical and exclusivist style of Muslim minority politics. Formed to counter Hindutva groups, it was banned by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 28 September 2022 for a period of five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Democratic Party of India</span> Indian political party

Social Democratic Party of India, popularly known as SDPI, is an Indian political party and Islamic terrorist organisation which was founded on 21 June 2009 in New Delhi.

Kapil Mishra is an Indian politician from Delhi. Before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, Mishra was an Aam Aadmi Party MLA representing Karawal Nagar in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Muzaffarnagar riots</span> Hindu –Muslim clashes in Uttar Pradesh, India

The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India in August–September 2013, resulted in deaths of atleast 98 Muslims and 21 Jats and injured 93 and left more than 50,000 people displaced. By date 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn.

Riots broke out in Kaliachak, Malda district in West Bengal, India on 3 January 2016. The Muslims were protesting the remark of political leaders Kamlesh Tiwari, But the protest turned into riots, when Muslim mob of more than 1 lakh people attacked the police and vandalised the police station of Kaliachak area.

Baduria riot refers to incidents of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in the Baduria town in Basirhat subdivision of the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal state of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Delhi riots</span> 2020 series of riots in Delhi, India

The 2020 Delhi riots, or North East Delhi riots, were multiple waves of bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on 23 February 2020 and brought about chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 53 people killed, two-thirds were Muslims who were shot, slashed with repeated blows, or set on fire. The dead also included over a dozen Hindus, who were shot or assaulted. More than a week after the violence had ended, hundreds of wounded were languishing in inadequately staffed medical facilities and corpses were being found in open drains. By mid-March many Muslims had remained missing.

CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh was a protest that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019. and the police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing law which gives priority to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians resident in India before 2014, but excludes Muslims, including minority sects. The student activists were also demanding complete roll back of CAA.

2018 Bihar riots refer to anti-Muslim riots during March 2018 in the Indian state of Bihar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Bangalore riots</span> 2020 religiously motivated riots in Bangalore, India

On the night of 11 August and the early hours of 12 August 2020, violent clashes took place around the residence of a legislator and the police stations of KG Halli and DJ Halli of the Indian city of Bangalore, Karnataka. A group of Muslims, angered by a Facebook post on Muhammad allegedly shared by Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's nephew, a state legislator of the Indian National Congress, arrived at his house in protest, which later turned violent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ram Navami riots</span> Communal clashes during Rama Navami rallies

Rama Navami is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Rama. It falls on the 9th day of the Chaitra month every year in the Hindu calendar, usually during the months of March–April. At least since 1979, if not earlier, This festival often involves processions of Hindu worshipers through cities, including Muslim-majority regions. These displays, often considered provocative, have repeatedly led to violence between Hindu and Muslim communities. Scholar Paul Brass states that Rama himself has been turned into a political emblem of the RSS family of organisations, and the Rama Navami processions are "led by or turned into provocative displays" by Hindutva organisations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. However, he fails to mention that Ram Navami processions were common in India, and other parts of the world where Hindus reside. These processions occurred much before VHP and Bajrang Dal even existed.

Hindu–Muslim sectarian violence occurred in the town of Karauli on 2 April 2022, when a Hindu New Year bike-rally organised by Sangh Parivar organisations passed through a Muslim locality with inflammatory slogans and music. Stone-pelting from surrounding houses, local people attacking with sticks, and arson, resulted in injuries to 20 people, including policemen, and damage to properties of 80 people of both communities.

A Hindu–Muslim clash occurred in Delhi's Jahangirpuri area on 16 April 2022, in the midst of a Hindu procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. The clash took place during the last of three processions organised that day by Bajrang Dal, a militant right wing Hindu nationalist organization. The procession, whose members were reportedly brandishing swords and pistols, halted near a mosque where Muslims were holding Ramadan prayers, while blasting music from loudspeakers and shouting abusive slogans. A conflict broke out, during which both groups pelted the other with stones and other objects; a few shots were fired as well. A number of people were injured, including a police officer. Twenty three people were arrested, including two juveniles.

On 10 April 2022, a clash between Hindus and Muslims occurred in the city of Khargone, Madhya Pradesh. It took place between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm, in the midst of a Ram Navami procession organised by a Hindu nationalist organisation allied to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). At 5:00 pm, when Muslims were gathering for evening prayers at the neighbouring Jama Masjid, the procession had not yet departed from the city's central Talab Chowk area.

Nupur Sharma is an Indian politician. She was the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) until June 2022. She frequently represented BJP on Indian television debates as an official spokesperson. In June 2022, she was suspended from the party due to her comments about Muhammad and the age of his third wife, Aisha, at the time of their marriage and the consummation of the marriage as well her comments on other central doctrines in the Islamic tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Muhammad remarks controversy</span> Controversy in India

The 2022 Muhammad remarks row began on 27 May 2022, when Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman of India's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made remarks about the Islamic prophet Muhammad in reply to remarks on the Hindu god Shiva, on a Times Now debate on the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute, which sparked controversy. Sharma's comment was in reference to an account from Sahih al-Bukhari that Muhammad married Aisha when she was six-years old, and the marriage was consummated when Aisha was nine. The controversy escalated on 1 June, when Naveen Kumar Jindal, the Delhi BJP media chief, made similar remarks on Twitter. By 4 June, the remarks had been widely shared on social media, and were trending among the top 10 hashtags in all the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Turkey. On the contrary, they were defended by right-wing politicians in Europe, like Geert Wilders, who cited Sharma's right to freedom of speech.

On 28 June 2022, Kanhaiya Lal Teli, an Indian Hindu tailor, was murdered by two radical Muslim men in Udaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The attackers captured the attack on camera and circulated the video online.

The murder of Umesh Kolhe, a pharmacist from Amravati in the state of Maharashtra in India, was carried out by two men by stabbing on 21 June 2022. The police arrested several people, who according to them, admitted to killing Kolhe for what he posted about Nupur Sharma, who was involved in the 2022 Prophet remarks row. The police released CCTV footage that showed the assailants following Kolhe around 10 p.m. on June 21. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had take over the probe of the killing to assess any possible links to the Udaipur murder.

Mohammed Zubair is an Indian journalist, fact-checker and the co-founder of Alt News, an Indian non-profit fact-checking website.

References

  1. ↑ Quint, The (11 June 2022). "Prophet Row: Bulldozers Demolish Properties of Violence Accused in Kanpur, Saharanpur". TheQuint. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kanpur violence: 36 arrested, 3 FIRs filed, property to be bulldozed, say cops". Hindustan Times. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  3. ↑ Pandey, Sanjay (3 June 2022). "Clashes in Kanpur over 'insult' to Prophet Mohammed during TV debate". Deccan Herald.
  4. ↑ "Blasphemous remarks: Hindu-Muslim clashes erupt in India". The News International.
  5. ↑ "Kanpur Violence: At Least 40 Injured, Police Register 3 FIRs Against 500 People". The Wire. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Kanpur violence: 38 arrested so far, hoardings with pictures of suspects to be put up". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "Kanpur violence: Five more arrested, sent to 14-day judicial custody; SIT formed for detailed probe". Firstpost. 6 June 2022. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "BJP's Nupur Sharma booked over remark on Prophet Mohammed". The Siasat Daily. 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 Srivastava, Ashish; Sharma, Santosh Kumar; Chawla, Simer (4 June 2022). "Kanpur violence key accused detained; BJP decries 'pre-planned conspiracy'". India Today.
  10. ↑ Chawla, Simer (3 June 2022). "Stone pelting in Kanpur amid calls to shut shops over BJP leader's remark, 2 injured". India Today. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  11. ↑ "Riots in Kanpur over blasphemy during TV debate, 18 arrested". The Pioneer. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Kanpur Violence: Police Register 3 FIRs Against 1,000 Unknown Persons; All 55 Named Accused Muslim". The Wire. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  13. 1 2 Naqvi, Haidar; Chitre, Manjiri Sachin (7 June 2022). Goswami, Sohini (ed.). "In Kanpur violence, 12 more held, minor surrenders at police station as posters surface". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Salaria, Shikha (5 June 2022). "Kanpur violence: 24 arrested so far, Sufi outfit alleges links with Islamic group PFI". ThePrint. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  15. ↑ "'Pause, take a critical look at what you have done': EGI to news channels on Kanpur violence".
  16. 1 2 Kumar, Anuj (4 June 2022). "Kanpur violence | Main accused arrested, PFI links to be probed". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022– via www.thehindu.com.
  17. ↑ Siddiqui, Faiz Rahman (5 June 2022). "Kanpur violence: SIT formed for detailed investigation; documents related to PFI found from main accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi | Kanpur News - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  18. ↑ Singh, Vishal Pratap (8 June 2022). "कानपुर हिंसा में विदेशी फंडिंग का इस्तेमाल? इस खुलासे ने उड़ाए पुलिस के होश".
  19. ↑ "Kanpur violence: Curfew imposed in Bareilly till 3 July; cleric Tauqir Raza calls for protest on 10 June". 5 June 2022.
  20. ↑ "कानपुर हिंसा मामले में अबतक 50 आरोपी गिरफ्तार, प्रिंटिंग प्रेस के मालिक को हिरासत में लिया गया". ABP News (in Hindi). 7 June 2022.
  21. 1 2 "Days after Kanpur violence, BJP leader arrested for Prophet comments". The Week .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.