Prominent civil rights activists converged here on Wednesday to release a report on the Kasganj violence of January 26 in Uttar Pradesh, alleging a deliberate bias against Muslims in the FIR and investigation.

A youth, Chandan Gupta, was killed in the spiral of violence that reportedly began with an altercation when a group of young men, carrying out a Tricolour rally on motorcycles, asked Muslims who had converged to celebrate Republic Day to remove the chairs from the path of the rally.

The report was released by activists Sandeep Pandey, Teesta Setalvad, former IPS officer S.R. Darapuri, lawyer Shoaib Mohammad, academic Apoorvanand and others. Student activist Umar Khalid was also present at the beginning of the meeting but soon left.

Two FIRs

A release shared on the occasion said two FIRs were filed instead of one, and that “both FIRs are, in fact, full of inaccuracies and contradictions”.

“The independent investigation exposes the police attempt to frame the Muslims, against whom there is no evidence, and to protect the Hindus, against whom there is substantial evidence,” said the release. “In truth, it was the Hindus who caused the violence at a place known as Abdul Hameed Chowk where the Muslims were preparing for a flag-hoisting ceremony to mark Republic Day.”

Specific demands

The release made a set of specific demands of the U.P. government: terminate the current prosecution of the two charge sheets; move the Allahabad High Court seeking a fresh police investigation monitored by the court; constitute a high-level enquiry into the administrative and police failure to prevent the violence and its escalation; constitute a high-level official enquiry into the sabotage of the investigations and establish responsibility for “framing” Muslims; withdraw the “fraudulent” criminal charges against Muslims; and “arrest the Hindus from the motorcycle rally and investigate their role in the violence”.