In Jamner, Police Officials Join March by Hindutva Outfit under Scanner for a Muslim Youth’s Lynching

Mumbai: Saffron turbans, a saffron flag and a plaque proclaiming it to be the country’s flag, instead of the tricolour, were on display this week in Maharashtra’s Jamner town at a procession organised by the Hindutva outfit, Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan.

Its flag-bearers? Police officials in uniform investigating the outfit’s role in the lynching of a Muslim youth. 

Less than two months ago, the town had seen a mob, consisting of men with links to the Shiv Pratisthan, allegedly lynch 20-year-old Muslim youth Suleman Pathan to death. The outfit is led by the controversial Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, known for delivering inflammatory, Islamophobic speeches, and has been under the scanner for its role in the killing. 

On Dussehra, these police officials – including the original investigating officer in the probe – turned processionists in the march. The procession consisted of thousands of Shiv Pratisthan members, marching with tridents, swords, lathis, and saw them often breaking into anti-Muslim slogans. One clip shows the volunteers shouting slogans like, Durga ban, tu Kali ban, kabhi na burkhe wali ban (Become Durga, or even Kali, but never become a Muslim woman).

The original investigating officer in Pathan’s case, Murlidhar Kasar, led the procession at one point.

Their presence has raised questions about the neutrality of the investigation and their ability to conduct a thorough, impartial probe into the outfit’s role. The outfit is led by the controversial Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, known for his Islamophobic hate speeches. 

There has been no official statement from the Maharashtra police or state government regarding the officers’ participation in the event as of this report.

‘Anti-constitutional, anti-national outfit’

Bhide’s outfit has publicly stated its opposition to the Indian tricolour being the country’s national flag, and has been agitating for the tricolour to be junked in place of the saffron flag. Bhide has also derided the Indian independence struggle and said that the country had not achieved “true freedom” yet. Bhide has, in the past, called Islam the “real enemy” of the country and asked his followers to chop down Muslim men who enter relationships with Hindu women.

On August 11, Pathan was sitting in a café with a Hindu girl in Jamner town when a mob of Hindu men dragged him out, kidnapped him and assaulted him at various spots en route to his village Betawad Khurd, where his family was also assaulted by the mob. The mob was reportedly incensed at his friendship with the Hindu girl.

Also read: Violent Reels to Morning Runs: Sambhaji Bhide’s Shadowy Hindutva Outfit Grows in Rural Maharashtra

The investigations were initially handled by Jamner police inspector Kasar before a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the incident. 

Kasar was one of the officials seen in the Shiv Pratisthan procession, being the flag-bearer and welcoming other processionists, while sporting a saffron turban. Local activists have now written to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as well as Jalgaon district’s Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Reddy, asking for action against the officials.

The Wire reached out to Reddy and Kasar over calls and text messages regarding their comments but they did not respond. 

“This outfit has been engaged in anti-constitutional rhetoric, and has opposed the secular nature of the country by calling for a Hindu Rashtra,” said a letter by Ashfaque Ahmed Patel, the Jalgaon president of the Congress’ Human rights panel. Patel has written to Fadnavis and Reddy demanding action against the police officials.

“Apart from Pathan’s lynching the outfit has been known to instigated communal riots in various parts of Maharashtra,” Patel’s letter said, demanding action against the “anti-national” and “anti-constitutional” outfit.

The procession

The procession saw thousands of locals across age groups, including young men, women and children, walking with swords, sticks, tridents on the streets of Jamner to mark the end of the nine-day Navratri festival. Videos sent by Jamner’s locals to this author showed young children walking with swords in their hands – however these videos could not be verified independently.

The outfit celebrates Navratri by holding an event called the Durga Mata Daud, each of the nine days whereby young women are encouraged to lead runs and marches across towns and villages of Maharashtra. 

The culmination of these celebrations was marked by a massive march – called the Durga Mata Maha Daud – on Dussehra, which saw the involvement of police officials from Jamner, said locals.

In videos from the event, police officials are seen being the flag-bearers of the event, leading from the front. The officials are surrounded by men who are sporting the same saffron turbans that the officials are wearing. The flag pole carries a small plaque, showing large swathes of South Asia and South-east Asia in saffron, alluding to the vision of the Akhand Bharat,  undivided Bharat, that Hindutva groups believe the country should be.

The police officials are also seen welcoming the procession with tilaks and flower petals.

Patel said the procession passed through different areas across Jamner, often indulging in aggressive sloganeering targeting Muslims, while waving the swords and the maces in the air. “How were they allowed to carry such weapons, at a time when their role in the lynching is under probe?” asked Patel.

For the family, a sense of loss

In Betawad Khurd, the village that Pathan belonged to, his family reacted to these videos with the feeling that their worst fears had come true. 

Pathan’s family members have been unhappy with the police probe into his lyching. 

Their reasons are many – their eyewitness testimonies have been ignored and the police has refused to act against Hindutva vigilantes who they witnessed assaulting Pathan. The family also believes that Pathan’s lynching had been planned in advance and argue that its masterminds – locals with political links – are yet to be arrested.

The police’ participation in the Shiv Pratisthan march, is for them evidence of what they believe is police bias. 

“We had been shooed away from the police station at least twice, when we went to meet them and express our concerns,” said Mehboob Khan, Pathan’s brother-in-law.

He underlined that they went to inform the police that some of the mob members were yet to be arrested,  “but the police told us we can’t just investigate people on the basis of your statements and asked us to get more evidence of their involvement,” Khan added. “Is it the job of the victim’s family to collect evidence?” he asked.

When this happened, the family, Khan said, started fearing that justice would not be served. 

Seeing the procession, those fears have only hardened. With the chargesheet yet to be filed, Pathan's family is fast losing hope. They are contemplating their options.

"We are trying to approach the court so that it can monitor this probe," said Khan. "We don't want to give up on getting justice for our son."

Kunal Purohit is an independent journalist.

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