New Delhi: The brutal murder of two minor Hindu boys, brothers aged six and 11, allegedly by a Muslim barber, followed by his subsequent killing by police within a few hours of the incident in Budaun, has taken a political turn in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The double-murder has led to widespread outrage as photos of the two murdered children were widely shared on social media.
However, the incident has also triggered a political controversy in the state after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Budaun, Sanghamitra Maurya, accused the Samajwadi Party’s candidate Shivpal Yadav of having alleged links to the brutal killing.
Maurya also accused Yadav of being the “sutradhar” (facilitator or orchestrator) of the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013 and the Mathura Jawahar Bagh incident in 2016, both of which occurred under the SP government.
The SP, represented by its district president Ashish Yadav, has written to the district election officer and district police chief, accusing Maurya and the BJP of attempting to polarise voters along communal lines through this incident and violating the Model Code of Conduct.
While the SP cited the incident as evidence of failed law and order in the state under the BJP government, leaders of the ruling party celebrated the killing of the accused person Sajid in an alleged “encounter” within three hours of the murder.
The double-murder
On the evening of March 19, tension gripped parts of Budaun after a barber identified as Sajid entered the house of a Hindu family in Sundarnagar Baba Colony and used a knife to slit the throats of two brothers on the terrace. A third brother, also a minor, managed to run downstairs and escape.
The boy later recounted to media personnel that the accused Sajid, who operated a salon in the area, had come to their house and led his brothers upstairs where he killed them. “He tried to attack me too, but I pushed away his knife, pushed him, and ran downstairs,” said the boy. He said he suffered injuries on the back of his head and hand.
Police are investigating the motive behind the crime but have not found any past disputes between the two parties.
The mother of the minors informed local media that Sajid had visited their house under the guise of asking for money to pay for hospital expenses where his pregnant wife was admitted.
The family also alleged that Sajid’s brother, Javed, was complicit in the murder and was waiting outside the house. On March 21, Javed surrendered before police in Bareilly district and was taken into custody. The police had declared a bounty on him.
Senior Superintendent of Police Budaun Alok Priyadarshi said that Javed was the second accused in the case and surrendered due to police pressure and the bounty declared against him.
“After talking to the officers [in Bareilly], our team is bringing him back. Further action will be taken after questioning him,” said Priyadarshi.
Before Javed surrendered to the police, a video emerged on social media showing him claiming that he was at home when the incident took place and that his family had friendly terms with the victim’s family. However, he could not explain why Sajid committed the murder.
Priyadarshi said that they are investigating why Sajid, despite getting the Rs 5,000 he asked from the victim’s mother, committed the murders.
Meanwhile, a mob set ablaze a shop belonging to Sajid after the news of the double-murder broke out.
BJP leaders claimed that Sajid’s encounter prevented the situation from escalating into a communal riot.
Rakesh Singh, inspector general of Bareilly Range, said that after committing the murders, Sajid, who was seen escaping in blood-stained clothes, was intercepted near a jungle area by the Special Operations Group of the police and the local police station team. When the police reached the scene, he allegedly fired at the police and tried to escape, said Singh. Sajid was killed in retaliatory firing by the police, he added.
Police have said that they recovered a country-made pistol from the accused as well as the murder weapon, believed to be a knife. How the accused obtained the pistol and why he chose the knife as a murder weapon still remain unclear.
Budaun’s electoral significance
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the murder case has emerged as a major talking point in the state, due to Budaun’s electoral significance, which is a traditional SP stronghold.
BJP MP Maurya and Aditya Yadav, son of the SP candidate Shivpal Yadav, have already visited the home of the aggrieved family to express solidarity amidst their campaigning efforts.
Ramgopal Yadav, SP’s national general secretary, on Wednesday (March 20), pointed fingers at the ruling BJP, when asked for a comment by reporters. “BJP people always create violence during elections,” he said.
His comment triggered a sharp response from the BJP whose leaders and lawmakers accused the SP of politicising the crime.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the “BJP cannot hide its failures through the encounter.”
His uncle and senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav, who is contesting from Budaun, said the incident showed that the law and order of the state had fully failed. “The encounter happened. But how will the truth of the case be unravelled now,” he asked.
Sanghamitra Maurya, the sitting BJP MP, who is yet to be declared a candidate in this election, publicly supported Sajid’s police encounter.
However, she also used the incident to train her guns at Shivpal Yadav and alleged, without any factual backing, that she suspected Shivpal to be the “sutradhar” of the Budaun incident, as well as the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar in 2013 and the Mathura violence in 2016.
“When we talk about riots, SP leaders say that BJP wants to win elections by inciting riots. I want to say this clearly that the BJP has been at the Centre for 10 years and eight years in the state, till date not a single riot has taken place under the BJP. When the SP was in power from 2012 to 2017, a record 300 riots took place. In those 300 riots, the two most important ones were Muzaffarnagar and Mathura riots. In both incidents the sutradhar was the SP’s candidate in Budaun,” alleged Maurya.
The BJP MP further said: “And his statement after coming to Budaun that ‘I am here, now everything will be fine’, in a way creates a doubt.”
“He has tried to build a wall of religion in some way. That such an incident took place within three to four days of him coming here, in some way his role also comes under suspicion…because he made such a statement and levelled allegations against the BJP,” said Maurya on Wednesday.
The SP, in official complaints to the police and district magistrate, accused Maurya of trying to spread hatred and divide the society. Maurya made “misleading and baseless” and “communal” remarks against Shivpal Yadav as part of a conspiracy, the party said.
“The purpose of this comment is to hold democracy hostage and influence the results of the election. It is clear that a cruel attempt is being made to influence the Budaun Lok Sabha election 2024 through these machinations. This entire comment is extremely undemocratic and shameful,” the SP said in its complaint.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who has been politically inactive, also condemned the murders. “Strict legal action is necessary against the culprits so that the law and order situation does not get worse, especially during election time. [It should be ensured that] politics does not take place over it,” Mayawati said on X (formerly Twitter).
In 2019, Budaun witnessed a close electoral contest with the BJP defeating SP’s Dharmendra Yadav.
This time, by fielding Shivpal Yadav from Budaun, the SP has raised the stakes in the constituency, which is set to go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases.
The BJP is yet to declare a candidate.
Sanghamitra Maurya’s father Swami Prasad Maurya recently quit the SP to form his own outfit. He had quit the BJP in 2022 but his daughter continued to serve as a BJP MP.
“BJP doesn’t believe in riots. BJP believes in bhaichara,” she said in Budaun, following the news of murders.
