05-Feb-2019
Sonda Habibpur village, Bulandshahr: “Sometimes, I feel like Gabbar Singh,” 44-year-old Shrikrishna said, unable to control his tears and struggling to look for documents in a thick stack, in the faint light of a single bulb in his courtyard. In the six months since he was publicly assaulted and humiliated, allegedly by mostly upper-caste men,…
04-Feb-2019
Naseerpur village, Mau: When the residents of Bholapur Hindoliya village in north-western Uttar Pradesh (UP) caught a 20-year-old outsider near a cattle-shed, trying to draw out a buffalo, they were enraged. Having suffered enormous losses due to frequent cattle theft, they thought they had finally found the thief. Eyewitnesses said the villagers, mostly Jats, then…
31-Jan-2019
Soi village, Bulandshahr: “Baba loved the village,” said Vakeel Ahmad, a year and a half after his father Ghulam Mohammed was lynched outside Soi village of Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the family had lived for generations. “He always said there can be no better place than the village,” Ahmad said, on the phone…
30-Jan-2019
Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh: Recalling his reaction on hearing that all three of his buses had been set afire by a mob, Abdul* said his first emotion was not fear. It was panic. In January 2018, a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ (Tricolour March) taken out by Hindu activists on Republic Day triggered a communal clash in Kasganj in western…
29-Jan-2019
Adhauli village, Bulandshahr: Now, with the benefit of hindsight, people can connect the dots and see the pattern emerging across hate crimes in Uttar Pradesh (UP). It starts with a minor incident, controversial enough to draw the crowds, but the situation remains on slow burn. Until people from outside the village appear, fueling passions and inciting…
28-Jan-2019
Varanasi: With 92 attacks, 2018 recorded the most hate crime in India in a decade, according to Hate Crime Watch, a database of religious identity-based hate crimes across India from 2009 to 2018, maintained by FactChecker. Uttar Pradesh, as per the 2011 Census, accounts for 16.5% of the country’s population. However, almost a third of the hate crimes…
15-Dec-2018
हाल ही में हुए बुलंदशहर हिंसा में दो लोगो की जानें गईं। यह हिंसा कथित तौर पर गौ-हत्या प्रकरण के चलते हुई। लेकिन हिंसा के पहले और बाद में सोशल मीडिया में फैले वीडियो, पोस्ट्स और अन्य ख़बरों की जांच पड़ताल से ऐसा लगता है कि कहीं पूरा मामला एक पूर्व नियोजित षड्यंत्र तो नहीं?…
12-Dec-2018
On December 3, 2018, Bulandshahr, a small district in Uttar Pradesh, witnessed sparks of communal violence. Two people, including a police officer, were killed in what is increasingly looking like a planned attack, born out of a dastardly conspiracy!
20-Nov-2018
In the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Adityanath has reportedly “stepped up efforts to expand his influence in the most backward communities” living in the forest protected regions of the Eastern UP. This, the CM plans to do by granting revenue status to villages which will entitle them…
01-Nov-2018
Adivasi leader Sokalo Gond has been released on bail today, in what is a major victory for CJP’s and AIUFWP’s campaign to free Adivasi human rights defenders who have been incarcerated in the course of their struggle for forest rights. We are positive that this will boost our campaign to aid the ongoing fight for…