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Abducted Hindu girl and her Hindu rescuers tortured by Muslims
TITLE: Muslim Panchayat Punished Hindu Girl for Refusing to Marry 82-year
old Jumma Nai
BYLINE: Her rescuers beaten up and paraded on donkeys
PHOTOGRAPHS: (i) Sunita, [20 year old Hindu girl abducted by a 82-year old
Muslim] (ii) Satish Jatav and Surendra Jatav - the rescuers.
by Shiv Kumar Goel
TEXT:
GHAZIABAD: Two youth of Shekhpur Khichra village in Ghaziabad district
were badly beaten up and after blackening their faces they were paraded
on donkeys in the village. Afterwards, the two were expelled from the
village by the village panchayat. Their crime: rescuing a 20-year old
girl from the clutches of an 82-year old Muslim who was keeping her as
his wife.
The girl, Sunita, was also not spared. Her hair were cut off publicly and
she was beaten up for refusing to become the wife of 82-year old Jumma
Nai. The police, stationed only 3 km. away at Masori Police Station, did
not get wind of these happenings.
Jumma Nai, father of three, had bought Sunita from her brother in Delhi
for Rs. 10,000 a few months ago and was keeping her virtually as a
prisoner in his house. Wary of letting Sunita out of his house, even for
easing herself, lest she tell anyone about her position, he decided to
get a toilet constructed in the house. This work was given to 22-year old
Surendra Jatav of the village.
On Feb. 7, while Surendra and a relative of his, Satish Jatav, were
engaged in building the toilet, Sunita came out of the house. She found
that the two youth were Hindus and she tearfully narrated her tale and
pleaded them to help her escape. The two were moved to pity and told
Sunita to meet them behind the house at an empty lot of land. In the
evening, Sunita came to the agreed spot secretly with her belongings. The
two youth took her to a Dharmashala in Garjmukteshwar.
Surendra then returned to the village, where he came to know from his
sister-in-law that some Muslim youth had threatened to kill his father if
Surendra, Satish and Sunita were not handed over to them. As soon as
Surendra came out of his house some Muslim youth seized him and took him
to Jumma Nai's house. There, after stripping him, they tied him to a tree
and beat him with lathis, demanding the whereabouts of Sunita and Satish.
Meanwhile, Satish also returned, having left Sunita with an acquaintance
in Meerut. Some Muslims got hold of him and he was also thrashed and tied
to the tree. The outraged Hindus of this Muslim majority village were
also threatened with a similar fate.
The next day, the village chieftain, Mian Hanif announced that the
panchayat would decide the punishment of the two youth. As a punishment,
their faces were blackened and their hair was cut off. The two were then
seated on donkeys with shoes around their necks and paraded in the
village. The parents of the hapless youth, shocked by the spectacle, fainted.
Beaten black and blue, the two were left in a nearby jungle by the
villagers. Owing to the fear of the Muslims, no one from their family
came to see them. After some time, the two went to Galand village from
where they reached a bus terminal in a tempo.
Meanwhile, Sunita was also brought to the village where the panchayat
asked her to accept Jumma Nai as her husband, which she refused. Upon
this, she was punished by cutting off her hair publicly. He face was
blackened and she was paraded in the village. The Hindus of the village
were threatened with a similar fate if they opposed the panchayat's
decision or informed the police of it.
In the evening the distraught Sunita took a bus to Dhaulana. Noticing her
condition, sympathetic passengers asked her the cause, upon which she
told them everything. She was taken to village Sapnawat by a passenger
and the very next day she was married to a villager by the locals.
------------------------------
SOURCE: Organiser, April 9, 1995, p. 17 (bottom 5 cols. across), Contd.
p.18 (bottom 2 cols.)
