Posted July 28, 2000

On 7th June the Municipal demolition squad, under heavy police escort demolished substantial part of the shed of the mosque, part of which was not built with the municipal permission. The police firing nearly 2 Kilometers away from the demolition site followed this. In the firing one person died and another was seriously injured and had to be hospitalized. Death of an individual following the demolition and the disturbing statements by various political persons prompted EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity) and Campaign and Advocacy for Human Rights to constitute a citizens inquiry committee to investigate the whole episode to

a) Find out whether the demolition was necessary, whether the part of the mosque demolished was causing any public nuisance.

b) Whether proper procedures were followed in the demolition.

c) What prompted the police to open the fire, whether there was an organized or spontaneous response threatening the security of the residents/police or the property of the area?
 

The following committee was constituted

1. Jalinder Adsule- Secretary, Committee for Rights for Housing
2.  Masud Pesh Imam- Editor- The New Break, Kalyan
3.  Ankush Bhoge- Social Worker, Campaign and Advocacy for Human Rights (Build)
4. Sanjay Shinde- Dalit Shramik Andolan
5. Ram Puniyani- Secretary- EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity)

The Committee visited the Kabristan (Muslim burial ground), the area where the firing took place, the police station, met the ACP, the community leaders and went through different relevant documents.

Investigation:

1.The committee talked to the Shiekh Ramjan Ali President of the Masjid (Masjid Avees Quarni), which is located in the Kabristan. Mr. Ali is 65-year-old businessman who had twice been the municipal corporator. He was assisted by the naib imam Asarar Ahmad Rizvi and Mohammed Eklate, a shopkeeper whose shop is in part of the wall of the kabristan, in giving us their version of the events as they took place.

2. This Kabristan is on the Marve road and there is a huge open area on the opposite side of the road where many a hutment's are there. Many of which keep getting subjected to the ‘treatment’ of bulldozer of the municipality. The people from Kandivli, Madh island and Orlem use this ground to bury their dead and on average 4-5 bodies is buried daily. As the people, coming for burial offer prayer and they could not be accommodated in the mosque a shed was erected nearby to accommodate the people, who either accompany the burial procession or come to pray here on regular basis. The shed developed some cracks in 1997. The trustees approached the municipality for permission to repair and expand the area of the shed. They did get permission to expand but earmarked the area larger than the permission for construction. As the construction was on, they got a letter from municipality to stop the work, four months ago. They complied with the letter and construction work had stopped four months ago. This shed was made from the municipal funds. We saw that the whole shed outside the structure had been razed to the ground, not sparing anything outside the mosque.

3.Prior to the day of demolition a huge police patrolling was witnessed and over 20 police vans were stationed in the area. In the morning when the squad arrived with the bulldozer, they closed the door of burial ground from inside and the people working nearby were interned inside and the gate was locked. The demolition squad went on rampage and along with the non-permission structure, they razed to the ground the earlier shed also, which was built with the help of municipal funds and was totally legal. We could see the solid boulders and other remnants of the pillars scattered nearby. Prior to the demolition they had not received any notice what so ever from the corporation.

4.We visited the house of the deceased Mr. Kailm Yusf Sheikh. His house is in a chawl in area called as Gate No.7, which is around 2 K.M. away from the place of demolition. There was an atmosphere of gloom in the house as we talked to his relatives, including his 22 years old widow and three children aged 4 1/2,3 years and the infant aged 6 months. Kalim had lost his father just four months ago due to illness. Kalim was an electrician and his elder brother Sayeed gave the detailed version.

The firing took place around 11.30 A.M. when Kalim was going to one hardware shop to buy the material for his contract of wiring in one of the houses. There was no particular pretext for the firing as the people disturbed by the news of demolition of the mosque were moving about without any violence.
On hearing that some action is going on in the mosque people came on the streets and took a morcha towards the burial ground. Since the police patrolling was intense this morcha was dispersed a kilometer away from the burial ground. As people were moving in the streets near gate 7 police without probably the need for the same to disperse the crowd opened the fire. Kalim after being hit by the first bullet fell to the ground. The police constable kicked him and turned him on his face before firing twice on his body. The details of second person are not available but apparently he reached Nair hospital on his own and was undergoing treatment there. Kalim was taken to the police station and made to wait there. Meanwhile women from both the communities took a morcha and requested for the release of Kalim as he was deeply injured by three bullets. He was taken in a rickshaw to Bhagwati Hospital, nearly 10 KM away where he breathed his last. Even in hospital he had to wait for some time to make the case paper despite being an emergency case. This firing was above the waist and even when Kalim fell down he was turned around to be shot twice again. The police rounded up around 40 boys, and put charges against, around 24 boys and except 9, others have been released on bail and bonds. The boys have been rounded up under the serious charges of rioting etc, while most of the people we talked to maintained that there was no rioting of any kind. The people we talked to were Rehana Sheikh Jamal,Sayeed, Dawwood Adam Patel and many others in the area.

5. When we visited the police station out side we met trustee of Anjuman Jama Masjid Mr. Abdul Jabbar and one Mohammed Rahil who are trying to get the boys released from the police custody.
 They told us that after the firing some boys became more rowdy and few politically motivated one's broke the Hanuman idol in a temple nearby. They also told us that even in the worst days of rioting in 92-93, post Babri demolition there were no riots in Malavani.  The crowd, which broke the idols of Hanuman and Ambe Mata, was a mixed one and more of an anti-social one rather than a community specific one. Also the boys who were picked and arrested by the police were from different areas and some of them were dragged out from their houses. There was some stone throwing in some areas but no organised and serious matter in any of the localities. This version was confirmed by most of the people we talked to barring the police. They also went and meet the trustee of Hanuman temple and apologised for the damage to the idol, by who so ever might have done it.

6.The police officer who talked to us did not wish to be quoted. As per him after the demolition began there was a morcha of the residents, which had to be dispersed. There was intense rioting, swords were being brandished and fireballs were being thrown on the police officers. The jeep of one patrolling officer Mr. Bhavasar and his team was surrounded and he felt the threat to their lives because of which he ordered the constable Sanjay Pawar to fire one 'effective' round due to which one person was injured and other died. Despite the heavy number of police personnel, this patrolling jeep was alone and did not have the tear gas shells, so they had to open the firing in 'self-defense'. The crowd also pelted stones on the BEST buses as well damaging 11 of them. Nearly 12 police personnel incurred injuries including Prakash Shinde who was hit by a stone on the nose requiring stitches.

7.We met the ACP Mr. Subhash Avate. As per Mr. Avate there was no mosque in the burial ground. Gradually the local trustees have been expanding the existing structure into a regular mosque and were planning to make a three storied structure. The plinth around the structure was very strong and could not be demolished. Crowd of thousand each from front and rear surrounded the jeep of Mr. Bhavasar so he had to order for the firing. The crowd was very rowdy and there was a threat to the life of patrolling party. In such situations firing in the air is of no help. They don’t use rubber bullets, as they are not effective. They did not have tear gas shells. Also in such situations it is difficult to aim just below the waist as even a slight change in aiming can result in the bullet hitting the abdomen or chest. Only one round was fired and the bullet scrapped past the first rioter and entered the body of the second one. The police was not aware of the death immediately and the body of Kalim was brought to police station by people and later taken to Bhagawati Hospital jointly by people and police. The post- mortem report was not shown to us on the ground that it is not yet available.

8. The study of the illegal places of worship in Mumbai gives a very interesting statastics, Times of India April 1st (Encroachers have Divine Weapon against BMC squads). As per this report according to one of the studies done by BMC 792 illegal, unauthorised places of worship have come up creating hassles for the traffic. Out of this 725 are Hindu temples, 20 belong to Muslims, 42 to the Christian community. The bias in the demolition of these is very obvious and the minority structures are the ones' preferred by the BMC squad. The present structure was in the compound of the Kabristan with no possibility of obstructing the traffic in any way.

Observation:

1.The construction of the illegal structure was stopped after the notice from the corporation. This structure was within the walled burial ground, away from any road and was not likely to disturb the traffic and other civic activities. Also trustees of the burial ground had stopped the construction in response to the letter. They did not get the usual notices which corporation must send before demolitions are to be undertaken.
2.There was no rioting warranting the firing. There was no desperate situation to necessitate the opening of firing above waist. Most of the disturbances took place after the firing by the police.
3.It is not sure as to who damaged the Hanuman idol.
4.Kalim was shot at thrice, that is unlikely to be for the sake of curbing the riot.
5.He was detained in the police station for 1 1/2 hours despite the three bullet wounds and then the relatives were made to take him in an auto rickshaw. This defies all the logic of the norms of handling emergency cases.
6.There were no signs in the locality of the destruction of property by the mob or the use of fireballs etc. by the mob.

Conclusion:

 This demolition was totally thoughtless and probably the authorities could have talked the matter to the trustees and sorted out the matter. The demolition of the legal part is an act, condemnation of which is beyond words. It is and outright waste of social resources.

The mob was scattered and the firing was an act more out of prejudice than to control the situation. It is one more instance of police bias against the Dalits and minorities the examples of which we have seen aplenty be it the post Babri demolition riot of 92-93 or the firing of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar. Shrikrishna commission and Gundewar commission of inquiry have proved this bias without any shadow of doubt.

Recommendations:

1.There is an urgent need to formulate the demolition policy and to put some rationality and sanity into it.
2. While demolishing the part of places of worship it is very important not only to give the notice and have the proper police bandobast but also to take the community leaders in to confidence.
3.The police personnel are heavily biased against the minorities and the dalits. They do require to be trained and retrained in the concept of Secularism, pluralism and multicultural values. Many of these biases are due to their exposure to communal literature. These communal myths need to be countered.
4. It seems the very basics of decency in handling the emergencies are missing due to heavy anti-minority bias. We need to have a look at the training of police personnel in Human rights and to suitably punish the erring officers to set an example to the rest.