A week after the violence in Bishahra village in Dadri that resulted in the public lynching of Mohammmad Akhlaq, communal tension has spilled over to adjacent areas of Noida.
The ruse of using animal carcass to create Hindu-Muslim divide is extremely old, but it is being employed in western Uttar Pradesh with some success. Technology too comes in handy and it is being used to spread false information to fuel communal fire weeks ahead of the local body elections in the State.
The head of a slaughtered calf, pieces of meat and an animal carcass caused tension in two adjoining villages. The head of a calf was found in Chitehra village, about four kilometres from Bishahra, on Sunday night.
The meat was found in a jungle, on the outskirts of the village, which has several Muslim dominated villages in its vicinity. Several teams of PAC force were quickly deployed in the villages.
A crowd of several thousands gathered at the spot in Chitehra and the situation could have gone out of hand, said Virendar Pradhan a local leader. He believed it was an “act of mischief” aimed at creating trouble. The Hindu
The officials buried the animal parts which the villagers said looked “freshly slaughtered.” An FIR has been registered against unnamed people.
In another incident, a calf belonging to a farmer in Kudakhedi village had died of natural causes, but some people had apparently tried to vitiate atmosphere by spreading a rumour.
The farmer approached the police with a complaint against some individuals. The District magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar, N.P. Singh told the media that police was looking for them.
He said peace committees like ‘aman chaman’ (garden of peace) had been formed in 20 gram sabhas in the vicinity of Bishahra.
In Badalpur village, anti-social elements had tried to portray the death of a calf as a case of slaughter. “We have arrested the culprits,” said the DM.
Meanwhile, the State government has, perhaps for the first time, woken up to the misuse of social media in spreading rumours and hatred over a sensitive issue like cow slaughter.
The U.P. government has written to Twitter India asking them to block tweets that are offensive and baseless.
Uttar Pradesh government officials have admitted that there was “extensive planning to spread hate campaign.”
“Someone hacked into an unsecured WiFi to gain access and post tweets. Not just social networking sites, but Chinese whispers and rumour-mongering are at their peak,” said a senior district official.
