What of the culprits in communal murders?

Among the 53 people killed in end-February in the racial attackss of North-east Delhi, were two brothers Mohammed Amir and Hashim Ali from Bhagirathi Vihar.  On 26 February at 7 pm, Amir had called his mother and told her that he would get home within five minutes with his brother. But despite her waiting the whole night,  they did not show up.

The next morning,  the dead bodies of both were found in the gutter near their home.  The previous night,  a man had seen some rioters killing three people and pushing their dead bodies into the drains,  and had complained to the police station about it.  Still, initially there was no serious enquiry. The police and authorities were trying to portray any one killed as 'rioters'.

But now such evidence has come out which makes clear what happened to Amir and Hashim that night.   The charge sheet filed by Delhi Metropolitan magistrate on 29 June, which contains clear clues about it,  mentions a Whatsapp group named 'Kattar Hindu Ekta' which was used to exchange messages by those who took part in the racist violence.

One of the messages posted in the group on 26 February was to this effect: 'We killed two mullas in Bhagirathi Vihar about two hours ago'.   Nine people were killed and their bodies dumped into the drains in this manner.  The charge-sheet accuses that the group caught people,  asked their name and address and after ascertaining their religion ,  asked them to chant 'Jai Sriram';  if they refused, they would be beaten, tortured and dumped into the drains.

Now more exchanges through this WhatsApp group have been obtained.  Over a thousand messages that flowed through this group have been released by Delhi's jouirnalists.  The chat group which worked with the initial name of 'Kattar Hindu Ekta' later changed names to 'Hindu Ekta Zindabad',  'Hindu Unity' and 'Hindu Ekta Group'.

All the evidence so revealed point to the fact that the violence that happened in Delhi from 23 February to 1 March,  which turned police and other security forces into silent spectators,  was nothing but a planned genocide.  The messages include many that calls to single out Muslims and raze their homes,  business establishments and madrasas.  The WhatsApp discussions also lay bare who were behind the culprits and the driving force behind the attacks. 

After posting a video post of BJP leader Kapil Mishra giving a call for riot,  a man asks it to be circulated all over India.  That clip also extrols Mishra's call as the most patriotic act.  The conversations also leave no doubt that it was under inspiration from Mishra's speech in Jaffrabad that the rioters formed such a 'goon group'.

The videos show multiple times the rancorous shout of Mishra that there was nothing unconstitutional in their attacks and that they would not allow another Shaheen Bagh.  The WhatsApp group that was started around noon on 25 February ,  became inactive by 8 March.  In other words,  Kattar Hindu Ekta' was a chat group that served as the guide for rioters only for the days they wreaked havoc in northeastern Delhi.

The curious fact is that in spite of its messages being uncovered comletely and the same being ratified by the investigating team,  those who called for riot including Kapil Mishra do not figure in the charge-sheet.   Even when admitting by implication that this was a genocide,  the police and the government are pvoviding a clear safety net for the real hunters. 

The complicity of Kapil Mishra in the communal attacks in Delhi had been revealed even earlier.  The Delhi riots were ignited soon after the US President Donald Trump concluded his trip to India and returned.  And there is also a Kapil Mishra statement that once Trump goes back, his followers would have a free day.  And it was after this that calls for riot came through Twitter with no let or hindrance. And there was nothing to bar Mishra from presenting his follwers in the presence of police personnel,   the details of targets of attacks.  As a matter of fact,  if he had been arrested that moment,  Delhi would not have burned in this fashion.   But subsequent events prove that there were people who matter, who had decided that things should happen the way they did. 

And that was why,  when those like Kapil Mishra were strutting freely outside the jail,  students and activists like Safoora Zargar had to spend time behind bars.  Except for the fact that certain scape goats from the security forces were arrested from the side of assailants,  nothing material has happened.  It needs to be said again that real hunters are still in the driver's seat and dictating the course of events.  It is for the same reason that the people who had fled the place to seek shelter elsewhere,  are still not able to return there.  In such a situation,  what justice can the victims hope to get?