A judge, her three-year-old daughter, a guard, and a district court official had a narrow escape on Monday.
As they managed to evade a mob and hide before the car they were travelling in was burnt in Haryana’s Nuh. Hindu and Muslim groups clashed during Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)’s Shobha Yatra in Nuh on Monday before the communal violence spread to places including Gurugram and left six people dead.
Tekchand, 48, the court official who is mononymous, said he was returning from Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College in Nalhar with additional chief judicial magistrate Anjali Jain, her daughter, and guard Siya Ram when they saw a mob of 100-150 people setting vehicles on fire and throwing stones. “Suddenly one stone hit [our] car’s rear glass, and rioters fired. …gunshots… that was even more scary,” said Tekchand.
Tekchand said they left the car and took refuge at a Haryana Roadways workshop on the Delhi-Alwar Road fearing they could be attacked. “The situation was tense and we feared for our lives…a small child was with us… Anything could have happened…there was fire everywhere; vehicles were set on fire and the mob was on a rampage.”
Tekchand said that they ran for their lives before the mob reached the car. “I wanted to ensure madam [Jain] and her daughter were safe and home safely. There was no option other than hiding inside the workshop. After the situation got normal, we informed local lawyers who came to our rescue.”
He added they returned and found the car was burnt. “…[We] could not recognise it [the burnt car] was Volkswagen Polo…the judge’s personal car.”
Police said they received Jain’s complaint on Tuesday and registered a case against unidentified attackers under Indian Penal Code’s sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance to cause damage) and the Arms Act.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said his government was identifying the perpetrators of the communal violence even as the tensions spilled over into Delhi. On Wednesday, right-wing groups took out rallies and held protests at 23 places in Delhi while a Muslim-owned shop was set ablaze in the Capital’s Kherki Daula village.
Internet bans remained imposed in Nuh and Manesar while prohibitory orders were in effect across Gurugram. A police officer said the trigger for the violence was videos suggesting that Bajrang Dal member and cow vigilante Monu Manesar, who has been on the run after his alleged involvement in the killing of two Muslim cattle traders in February, will be part of an annual religious procession in Nuh but he did not turn up.
Tensions spread on Tuesday to places such as Gurugram, where a mosque was burnt and a cleric killed, and several shops pillaged.