New Delhi: It was all quiet at Ashutosh Sharma’s petrol pump in Muzaffarnagar on July 24 till a few kanwaryias got into a verbal spat with his staff. The petrol pump employee handling the fuel dispensing machine, Manoj Kumar, raised an objection when he noticed that some kanwariyas, who were resting in the premises of the unfenced, sprawling petrol station, were smoking cigarettes. He asked them to move away from the station and warned them about the risks of smoking at the highly-combustible location.
The altercation soon turned into assault as the kanwariyas grabbed his collar and then started beating him up. Kumar tried to save himself and ran towards the saleroom of the petrol station and locked himself inside. A group of kanwariyas broke through the back door of the room and managed to get hold of Kumar.
“They hit him on the head with something like a baseball bat,” Sharma, the manager of the petrol pump, told The Wire. “The walls of the room still have stains of Kumar’s blood.”
The kanwariyas, whose numbers started swelling at the scene, continued to beat Kumar and other staff and also vandalized the premises including the saleroom. They damaged or broke a computer, a gate, cash counting machine, biometric machine, printer, toughened glass and several other items. “They broke anything they could break,” said Sharma, who reviewed all the violence through CCTV footage. According to him, he suffered losses up to the range of Rs 15-20 lakh.
Ugly scenes of the incident were widely shared on social media. Sharma said that after Kumar tried to escape from the room, kanwariyas got hold of him outside and delivered several blows to his back. Kumar has multiple fractures and a head injury, said Sharma, adding that his employee was admitted in the Muzaffarnagar Medical College with serious injuries. Kumar received stitches on his head.
‘State government’s instructions gave them impunity’
Commenting on the streak of violence carried out by kanwariyas on the Kanwar Yatra route over the past week, Sharma said the administration was pushed on the backfoot due to the state government’s strict instructions that kanwariyas had to be taken care of during the pilgrimage. This gave them a sense of impunity.
Also read: UP Govt Fears Violence if Kanwariyas ‘Unwittingly’ Eat in ‘Place Not of Their Choice’
“The kanwariyas are misusing the facilities offered to them. They know that they can indulge in any kind of misbehaviour or violence and nothing will be done to them. I fear that a big incident might happen soon, given this trend and the large number of kanwariyas –something like a lynching incident or stampede,” said Sharma, who has closely observed kanwar yatras for two decades.
Sharma, who runs two hotels near the site of the violence, said he has never seen so much fear among local establishments during the Kanwar Yatra. “This time we are a bit anxious looking at the hordes (of kanwariyas),” he said.
Police cites ‘mangoes’
An FIR was lodged on Sharma’s complaint at the Mansoorpur police station on charges of rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid. In his complaint, seen by The Wire, Sharma said the attack on his staff members was carried out by 40-50 unidentified kanwariyas. When the incident took place, Muzaffarnagar police had said that it was triggered after the petrol pump staff objected to the kanwariyas throwing leftover seeds of mangoes in the premises. Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramashish Yadav said that only a window pane had been damaged.
As reported by The Wire, several such incidents have taken place in the Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur belt on western Uttar Pradesh this Kanwar season, when saffron-clad pilgrims, mostly young men and boys, walk barefoot carrying kanwars on their shoulders.
The pilgrimage is meant to be a festival of penance as the kanwariyas draw water from the Ganges and other rivers considered sacred by them and carry them back to offer to the Hindu deity Shiva at temples in their area or elsewhere. The kanwar refers to the pole set carried by kanwariyas with containers attached to each end. The water is carried in these containers. This year several incidents of violence have taken place after kanwariyas accused commuters of desecrating their kanwars. Kanwariyas have also indulged in vandalism over being served onion and garlic in their food.
On July 19, a group of kanwariyas vandalised an eatery on National Highway-58 in Chhapar area of Muzaffarnagar after they were allegedly served onion and garlic in their food. During the yatra, kanwariyas follow a strict vegetarian diet and abstain from consuming garlic and onion.
Also read: On the Road With the Kanwar Yatra: A Ground Report on Closures, Vandalism and Business
Wanton violence
According to the FIR lodged in the case, at around 12:30 pm on July 19, a group of 10-15 kanwariyas reached the Tau Hokke Wala Harayanvi Dhaba and ordered food. The atmosphere soon turned sour after the kanwariyas created ruckus over being served onion and garlic in their food. “The waiter serving them didn’t understand the instructions and by mistake brought them food with garlic and onion,” said a waiter of the dhaba, on whose complaint the FIR was lodged on July 25, six days after the incident.
The enraged kanwariyas started hurling abuses and vandalising the dhaba, said the waiter. The kanwariyas damaged a refrigerator, some chairs and windows glasses, he added.
Wishing to remain anonymous, the waiter said that the situation could have gotten worse had the kanwariyas got hold of the cook at the dhaba. The cook was a Muslim. “When he heard the commotion from the dhaba, he escaped from the back. We have not seen him since,” said the waiter.
He acknowledged that in most cases, the kanwariyas come to the dhaba, smoke hookahs and eat food and return without creating any issues. In this case too, he feels, the kanwariyas could have handled it better. “If they were served food with onion and garlic, they could have asked us to get a fresh one and we would have offered them that as compensation,” said the waiter.
Unidentified kanwariyas were booked in the case under unlawful assembly, rioting, mischief and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
In another incident, on July 26, a Muslim man was thrashed and his car was vandalised by a group of kanwariyas in Meerut’s Partapur after the vehicle, which was moving from the wrong side, allegedly brushed against one of the pilgrims. The kanwariyas accused the car of desecrating their kanwar. Meerut Superintendent of Police City, Ayush Vikram Singh said the matter was resolved as neither side wanted to press legal charges. They moved towards their respective destinations, the officer said.
