Sabori Mishra and Prem Mishra were among the Hindutva goons who attacked Muslim residents and invaded their properties during the Bahraich riots that flared-up after the Durga-idol immersion ceremony.
In a conversion with the Dainik Bhasker, they exposed that the rioters were given free hands for 2 hours by the police on October 14 to inflame the communal tension and cause violence in favour of Hindutva raft against the Muslims.
Unaware of being recorded via hidden camera, the rioters said that they had freedom to damage anyone and anything during the time but “their own people” deceived them.
“Some people betrayed us, otherwise we would have devastated the entire Maharajganj!”, a goon told the reporter while revealing how the riot was “pre-planned”, “sponsored” and “backed by the system”.
“We torched the vehicle agencies, vehicles and shops! There were many people in our team! It was not mandatory for one to do everything! We had turns, we changed shifts and worked accordingly”, the rioter told with a slash of pride on hidden camera.
The brief conversation revealed that the Hindutva rioters were given “freedom and opportunity” by the police administration to incite communal eruption and damage Muslims at maximum. One rioter also mentioned that a police officer of Hardi Thana betrayed them and said that the rioters require “permission from the MLA to continue riots”.
“State Sponsored Terrorism”
The riots erupted after a dispute over loudspeakers in an idol-immersion ceremony when a Hindu man Gopal climbed on the house of a Muslim man to flutter a saffron flag and was shot dead.
After this many properties, hospitals, schools and religious places of Muslims were attacked and damaged by Hindutva goons across the city. They also looted shops, bikes, cylinders and household items. Their communal processions were equipped with sharp weapons, batons, iron rods and glass bottles to attack people. Hindutva slogans of “Jai Shree Ram” and “Jai Bajrang Bali” were also chanted during the eruptions.
As per reports, 5 of the 7 FIRs were filed against Muslims by the deployed police officers on the site, showcasing “unidentified” people and “mobs” in the records. On the other hand, some Muslims complained that the cops refused to register the cases against Hindu hoodlums.
“Shame on such BJP politics and BJP’s hunger for power, which conspires to incite riots… for politics. Every day new revelations are being made in the case of Bahraich violence and the BJP is not able to show its face”, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav wrote on the social portal “X”.
BJP MLA, Sureshwar Singh lodged FIR against “7 unidentified people” including BJYM city president Arpit Srivastava, accusing them all under serious charges of rioting. Muslims are asking him to “reveal the identity” of the other hidden names to maintain transparency and accountability.
The Bharaich violence is being seen as a “state sponsored terrorism” and “institutional violence” which has been “planned systematically” and “weaved with conspiracy theories” to attack, target and destroy the Muslims of Bahraich city.
