– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Four Muslim men allegedly accused of throwing a cow head in a temple in Jawra were arrested by police. Sharik and Salman were arrested on the morning of June 14, their houses were demolished on the same day, while Naushad and Shahrukh were arrested in the evening and their houses demolished on June 16.
A team of Madhya Pradesh chapter of Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) visited Jawra for fact-finding on the alleged incident of a cow-head throwing into a temple. The team met the individuals and families of the alleged accused. It also inspected the photos of the incident. The team found that Shahrukh and Salman are laborers who also work to make ‘taaziya’ at night. They went for a tea and returned home.
Zaid Pathan of APCR said the police claim that they have the video of the accused throwing the head in the temple but on the other hand, it has come to light that the temple’s cameras were switched off during the alleged incident. The men were only seen walking on the similar road in CCTV footage of a roadside camera. All four men were subsequently sent to Bherugarh jail.
The report also mentions that women were also attacked, mistreated and misbehaved. They received injuries. The APCR team intervened to stop the demolition of houses belonging to the families of Sharukh and Naushad in Jawra.
The team reached the Special Court to get the stay order on the demolition of the houses. The administration was under undue pressure. Local authorities faced threats of a “Bandh call” on Eid if they did not demolish the homes of the accused. Despite the diligent efforts of the APCR team which worked throughout the night to file the petition for a stay order, the houses were demolished before the court’s decision.
The court granted the stay order at around 2:30 PM, but bulldozers had already demolished the houses between 12:30 and 1:30 PM. The administration issued demolition notices dated June 14, on June 16 at around 12:30 PM, commencing the demolitions shortly thereafter.
Shahrukh’s brother had informed and requested the police to wait for a stay copy for some time but they didn’t pay heed.
