Communal tensions flared up in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh after reports emerged in the media where a few Madrasa students claimed that they were beaten up and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ when they were playing at the GIC ground. However, exposing the ill-intent behind the claims Uttar Pradesh Police has clarified that the dispute was regarding cricket and has also categorically denied that the Madrasa students were forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
ADG Law and Order, PV Ramashastri and Pravin Kumar said that some anti-social people were attempting to flare up communal tension.”Such people won’t be successful as UP Police will tackle them effectively. Police are working without any discrimination,” he said.
Naeem Misbahi, Maulana Jama Masjid, Unnao also forwarded the claims made by the Madrasa students. He said “Three children were beaten by some boys while they were playing cricket after they refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. They also pelted stones at children. On checking the Facebook profile of the boys, we got to know that they’ve links with the Bajrang Dal people.”
However, the circle officer sharing the details of the Unnao case, said, “Three children of Jama Masjid madrasa got injured during a clash between two groups on the cricket ground in Government Inter College (GIC) on Thursday, where these children had gone to play cricket. A case has been registered against the accused persons. Further investigation in the matter is underway.”
Senior Congress leader, Salman Khurshid claimed a ‘conspiracy’ behind the attack on Madrasa students “You can call it a conspiracy or a narrow thought which is leading to these incidents. How this thought has been sowed into the minds of many people and if there is a mastermind, needs to be looked into deeply.” he said.
These claims by Madrasa students and the Maulana come after a series of such similar fake cases where people of certain community involved in personal disputes have claimed that they were forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ however later facts ascertained otherwise.
Earlier this month reports had emerged that an Auto Driver, Aatib was allegedly locked up inside a public toilet by three people for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. In a bid to flare up communal tensions rumors were also propagated on WhatsApp that Aatib had died after being thrashed for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. However, these claims also did not have any basis and turned out to be false.
A similar case also took place in Gurugram earlier in May in which media had reported how one Barkat Ali was beaten up by some Hindu men and his cap was also forcefully thrown, However CCTV footage had later showed how no one had deliberately removed his skullcap. In this case, the angle of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was deliberately pushed in by a certain section of media despite being no mention in the initial report filed by Barkat Ali.
Not surprisingly the mainstream media staying with its stance has decided to conveniently communalize these disputes, as the identity of the victims fits well with their political agenda. Mainstream media has been called out time and time again for blatantly molding or totally manufacturing the reportage of crimes involving certain sections in India. However, after continuous backlash from the online community, and easy access to facts over online space, this is surely not the first incident where the inherent hypocrisy of the pseudo-liberal media ecosystem stands exposed.