Muzaffarnagar tense over death anniversary now

Tension gripped Muzaffarnagar in UP following the decision by families of two cousins – Sachin and Gaurav – whose killings in September last year had sparked riots, to hold a prayer meeting at Malakpura in Kaval on their first death anniversary.

On August 27 last year, the brothers were killed allegedly by members of a particular community after they had battered to death a youth for molesting their sister at Kaval.

The killings had triggered widespread communal violence in the district.

The security personnel are still deployed at the brothers’ house in Malakpura even one year after the incident. The district administration has beefed up security after the decision to hold the condolence meeting on Wednesday.

Sources said thousands of people, even from outside Muzaffarnagar, are expected to attend the meeting. Differences have arisen among members of the two communities over the road to be used to reach the cousin’s house.

Members of the other community have said they will not allow people to use the road that passes through Kaval which has a sizable Muslim population. 

Several meetings between the two communities in the presence of district officials have failed to break the deadlock with both sides sticking to their stand.

The administration fears that there may be violence if people are allowed to pass through Kaval. “The outsiders will go through another way while the residents of the village may use the path within,” said an official.

The sources said police had sought a list of relatives of Sachin and Gaurav who would be attending the meeting. 

However, people vehemently protested the move and asked the families not to give any such list.

Sachin’s two-year-old son, who has been living at his maternal grandparents’ home with his mother after his father’s killing, will also be at the meeting, reports said.

District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said the administration was keeping a close watch on the situation.

“No one will be allowed to take the law into their hands. We will take stern action if any attempt was made to disturb the atmosphere in the district,” he said.

As many as 62 people had been killed and thousands others displaced after the communal clashes in the district last year.