Families in Aligarh seek to migrate after clashes

A communal clash between two communities over an incident of eve teasing this week, has prompted ten Hindu families in Aligarh district to seek permission to sell their properties.

This comes close on the heels of the BJP’s claims in June of migration by Hindu families in Kairana.

The families in Aligarh, on Friday, submitted applications to the office of the district magistrate, seeking permission for the sale of properties.

Aligarh mayor Shakuntala Bharti, who accompanied the families to the district magistrate’s office, said that people belonging to one community were making it difficult for these families to continue living in their houses in the Babri Mandi area.

“Almost every other day, women belonging to Hindu families are being subjected to harassment and eve-teasing. The police refuse to act on the complaints and the accused persons are getting emboldened,” the mayor said.

The most recent incident took place on Wednesday when some miscreants accosted a newly-married couple and tried to molest the woman.

The victim screamed for help and when her family members came out, the group of miscreants started pelting stones, leading to a major clash in the area.

An FIR was registered against four persons, but no action was taken.

She further said that the minority appeasement policy being pursued by the state government was creating havoc for members of the majority community living in these areas.

Those who want to sell their properties in the area include Kapil Gupta, Ankur Varshaney, Mukesh Agarwal, Yogesh Varshaney, Girish Chandra, Amit Varshaney, Annu Agarwal, Rakesh and Mahesh Chandra and Mukesh Singh. Meanwhile, the officiating district magistrate Avadesh Tiwari said that the district administration would take necessary action to assure the families so that they do not migrate. He said that action would soon be taken in Wednesday’s clashes and the family would be provided adequate security. SP MLA Zafar Alam, on the other hand, has accused the police of misbehaving with women of their community on the pretext of carrying out raids to arrest the accused.