National Minorities Commission sends notice to UP, Tripura governments over violence against minority community

Nov 12, 2021

New Delhi [India], November 12 : Taking cognizance of attacks on the minority community, the National Commission for Minorities sent a notice to the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Tripura seeking reports on the recent cases of violence against the minority community.
"We have issued notice to the Director-General of Police and Chief Secretary of the two states regarding the three recent incidents," National Commission for Minorities president Iqbal Singh Lalpura told ANI.
"We have sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh DGP and Chief Secretary on the Kasganj incident. The information that has come to us till now has come through newspapers. As soon as the report comes from the Uttar Pradesh government, the members of our commission will also visit the spot and we will see that we cannot discriminate against anyone on the basis of religion," he said.
He further told ANI, "During the yatra taken out by VHP in Tripura last month, many mosques and houses of minority people were set on fire. In that case, we asked for a report from the government there but the report has not come yet. We will share the report with you as soon as it comes."
"In the third case, the report of the incident that happened in Lakhimpur Kheri has come. We are studying the report. People of the commission will visit the place very soon," he added.
On November 9, a man identified as Altaf, who was called for questioning to Kasganj police station in connection with the case of a missing girl, died in custody. According to police, the man had used a string from his jacket hood in the washroom of the police lock-up to attempt suicide by strangulation.
Rajeev Krishna, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Agra said "We immediately, rushed him to hospital, but he passed away. The SHO (station house officer) and four other police personnel have been suspended for negligence and a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident."
"On November 8, one Kasganj resident registered a complaint about his missing daughter. He had named Altaf in his complaint. Altaf was then brought to the police station for further questioning," he said.
According to Kasganj SP, Botre Rohan Pramod, the police had called Altaf for questioning in the matter of the missing girl.
"During questioning, he requested to use the police lock-up washroom and tried to strangle himself with a string of his jacket hoodie. Police officials took him to hospital in an unconscious state," said Kasganj SP.