Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade
ON Thursday (January 2), the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Lucknow convicted 28 individuals, finding them guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), and 302 (murder). They were also charged under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971. The case involved the murder of Chandan Gupta, a 22-year-old youth from Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, who was shot on January 26, 2018, during Tiranga Yatra taken out by a Hindu right-wing group called Sankalp.
We visited Kasganj after the communal riots to conduct a fact-finding mission and authored a report on the incident. We interacted with key stakeholders — including Sushil Gupta, father of Chandan Gupta, police personnel, political representatives, and residents from both the Hindu and Muslim communities regarding the incident.
On that fateful day of January 26, residents of the Badu Nagar, a predominantly Muslim area, had organised a flag-hoisting ceremony at Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha. In preparation for the event, they made enthusiastic arrangements, setting up chairs, inviting schoolchildren, and inviting a chief guest. This marked the first time the Muslim community organised the ceremony at Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha, as traditionally, such events were held in schools. Interestingly, this initiative followed orders issued by the Uttar Pradesh government urging Muslims to display their loyalty by holding celebrations of Independence Day in madrasas and videographing the same.
On that day, youth from the Sankalp group organised an unauthorised bike rally and insisted on passing through the Muslim-dominated Badu Nagar and Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha during the flag-hoisting ceremony. According to videos viewed by the authors, around 10 a.m., a group of 60 to 70 bikers arrived at the Chauraha carrying saffron flags, ironically named “Tiranga Yatra”. The Chauraha is situated in a very narrow lane through which not more than a bike can pass at a time. They were chanting slogans such as “Hindustan mein rehna hoga to Vande Mataram kahna hoga” (If one has to stay in India, he must chant Vande Mataram) and “Radhe Radhe” (Hindu hymns). These were seen as provocative and exclusionary, targeting a specific religion rather than promoting the spirit of Republic Day. On entering the Chauraha, the bikers demonstrated aggression and triumphalism as they passed through a Muslim-inhabited neighbourhood. The residents who had assembled enthusiastically out of patriotism for the flag-hoisting refused to chant these communally motivated slogans and instead raised their own chants of “Godse murdabad.”
The video footage that these authors were shown, shows the youth from the bike rally aggressively demanding that the chairs set up in the narrow lane for the ceremony be removed so that the bike rally could pass. The organisers of the flag-hoisting ceremony reportedly invited the youth to join the ceremony first, after which the chairs would be cleared. However, one of the youths in the rally pulled out a stick and attacked a resident, as seen in the video. This incident marked the beginning of the violence in Kasganj that day.
The fact-finding team was told that the bikers regrouped after being dispersed momentarily when more residents from the area showed up. This time there were more youth on the Tehsil Road, and were armed with pistols and sticks. They started attacking the Muslims on the road and vandalised their shops. In the ensuing violence, Chandan Gupta received bullet shots and one Naushad was shot in the leg. There were no allegations even from the Hindu side we interacted with to the effect that the residents of Bapu Nagar forced the youth to say ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ or wave Pakistani flags. From the interactions with different stakeholders, it was evident that there was no planning of communal riots by the residents of Bapu Nagar who were immersed in the preparations of the flag-hoisting. There was no information to the residents of Bapu Nagar that a “Tiranga Yatra” would be passing through their area, and it is difficult to fathom that they would have planned and prepared for the “attack”. Such an allegation appeared to us as an afterthought.
During an interaction with us, Sushil Gupta the father of the deceased Chandan Gupta, shared that his son was very active in helping the poor, particularly through blood donation. Chandan had donated blood three times, with all three donations going to Muslim recipients. Sushil Gupta also did not mention any Pakistani flags during the conversation. He expressed his surprise at how Chandan had ended up in the rally in the first place, suggesting that Chandan did not have any personal enmity with Muslims.
Upon reviewing the FIRs and speaking with some of those arrested, the authors found significant shortcomings in the police investigation. In the FIRs filed by Hindus against Muslims, the names of the accused are clearly mentioned. However, in the FIRs where Muslims are the victims, no names of the accused are provided, and the names of the Muslim shop owners or the shops that were attacked are also not listed.
Most of those arrested appeared to us to be innocent Muslims who were detained arbitrarily by the police. They were simply on the street when the arrests took place — some had stepped out to close their shops after the violence, while others were buying daily essentials like milk. Among the arrested individuals was a Muslim youth with a 70 percent disability, as well as a senior citizen whose wife passed away while he was incarcerated.
Salim, one of those convicted, in fact had a strong alibi. His brother Shamim showed the fact-finding team a video which shows that Salim, a reputed businessman in Kasganj, was in a flag-hoisting programme in a school at around 10 am on the same day. The other shopkeepers had vouched for his good character. It is important to note that Sushil Gupta filed the FIR about his son’s death more than 13 hours after his death, naming 20 Muslim residents including Salim. Sushil Gupta was not present at the spot where the incident took place. His naming of the 20 Muslims in the FIR that was filed belatedly appears to be from hearsay evidence.
Human life is invaluable, and the loss of life — regardless of caste, religion, or gender — is always tragic and deserves justice. These authors are not privy to the court proceedings and evidence before the court while convicting the accused in the case and do not express any opinion on the finding of the court.
This case also holds particular relevance in the current political climate, where it has become a norm rather than an exception for Hindu right-wing groups to organise numerous yatras, some of which have no basis in Hindu tradition, yet insist on passing through Muslim-majority areas to establish their hegemony and to humiliate and provoke the Muslim community by raising objectionable slogans targeting them, including the Muslim women. The political objective of the rallies is not to unite all Indians, but to establish Hindu supremacy, asserting dominance over public spaces, including those in the Muslim neighbourhoods. There is a clear and undeniable attempt to marginalise the Muslim community. Unfortunately, these shows of strength and domination, coupled with the state’s actions — such as demolitions — often result in the loss of Muslim lives and property. In the process, they can also claim the lives of Hindus. In the present case, Chandan Gupta was one such victim. These young people, who may not fully comprehend the consequences of their actions, are often manipulated by propaganda and an agenda that aims to “other” the Muslims. They are misled into becoming part of a xenophobic project that fosters hatred and violence.
One can only hope that the criminal justice system promptly investigates similar cases where Muslims have also lost their lives in communal conflicts. Justice must be delivered impartially, without discrimination. There are mothers grieving in Sambhal, Haldwani, and Bahraich, and countless Indians left homeless due to demolitions in Khargone, Bareilly, and many other places. Hatred drives societies towards darkness. It is for the judiciary to restore justice with fairness and impartiality.
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The writers were part of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism’s fact-finding team, which visited Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh immediately after the violence.
