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Mainstream, VOL LIV No 26 New Delhi June 18, 2016

Mathura Carnage: Murder Most Foul!

Saturday 18 June 2016

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by Sudhanshu Tripathi

The unfortunate event at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura killing a very fine, gentle and promising city SP Mukul Dwivedi sounds a very dark chapter in independent India’s decaying politics where offenders and criminals rule the roost. Though a very young and perhaps deeply religious sub-inspector was also killed in the mayhem besides more than two dozens of the so-called satyagrahis united under the banner of the Swadhin Bharat Andolan in the name of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose led by one mastermind, Ram Vriksha Yadav, also killed in his self-prepared strategy to defeat the police force which was ordered by the High Court to get the public park vacated from the clutches of these anti-social elements illegally occupying it since 2014 under the pretext of fulfilling their irrational demands, the way the SP was brutally and mercilessly killed—almost unarmed and betrayed by his fellow policemen who ran away from the spot when he was overpowered by these criminals—raises many serious questions about the prevailing quality of governance and administration in the State of UP, being ruled by an equally young CM, Akhilesh Yadav. Further, even when the SP and the sub-inspector were being criminally assaulted by the goons of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the police party were denied permission to open fire at them which might have saved the precious lives of these two sincere officers.

Evidently, all this draws a clear line of indictment running from officials in Mathura to the State administration in Lucknow. If the life of a Superintendent of Police is not safe in the State, who had gone with few personnel in the park very peacefully on that fateful day (June 2) just to oversee or recce the area for the final operation to be carried out later, what about the security of common men and their lives? Why did these criminal-protestors act dispropor-tionately to commit unparalleled barbarity upon the hapless SP who was simply arguing and trying to convince them about their unlawful occupation of public land and their baseless demands for creating an ideal society. Was this only a coincidence or an act of preconceived and deliberate murder of the SP? In fact, the SP was said to be particularly concerned about this land-grabbing of the park by these criminal protesters and had also made efforts earlier to get the park vacated but was always discou-raged by his higher-ups and political masters on one pretext or the other in his endeavour. Indeed, the Ram Vrishka gang was highly organised, well prepared and having a big cache of arms and ammunitions that went unnoticed by the local intelligence. Only after the tragic incident did these facts gradually come out with each passing day. And the morale of the going was certainly very high because they were not afraid of the consequences of killing even a senior police officer of the Superintendent rank. The question is: how could they do all these illegal and nefarious acts just under the very nose of the district administration of Mathura?

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All indications gathered by information so far suggest that the deceased, Ram Vrishka Yadav, was enjoying a very strong and high level of political patronage of a senior Cabinet Minister of the ruling party in the State. Being a Yadav was an additional weight in his favour. He had developed a parallel government inside Jawahar Bagh of around 264 acres and got several of permanent cottages constructed for his followers. This speaks aloud about his mala-fide intentions of capturing forever the public park wherein he had entered into along with his followers two years ago having only two days of permission from the city authorities for retiring as they were on their way to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, coming from Madhya Pradesh. Several Aadhar cards and id cards were also found during search operations carried out after the mayhem—these point towards the possibility of their misuse in the next elections of the State Assembly a few months ahead with a view to provide advantage to the ruling Samajwadi Party for ensuring it another full term of government.

In this scenario, how can sincere, dedicated and honest officers perform their duties well in the interest of society? Who will take care of common man and their woes? What will happen to the bereaved families of the killed SP and the sub-inspector? As it has a now emerged that a clear political protection was provided to the leader of this criminal group and also about the serious lapses in the police action, all these facts, obviously, need to be thoroughly investigated by none other than the CBI, as the State inquiry will not reveal the truth, and the culprits ought to be punished for their heinous crime of murdering the innocent police officers.

Dr Sudhanshu Tripathi is an Associate Professor, Political Science, MDPG College, Pratapgarh (UP).

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