Comrade K K Bora observed that the entire police and administrative action reflected a communal bias and amounted to persecution. After the incident, the police conducted house-to-house searches in the name of verification, spreading fear among Muslims in the locality and across the city. The police filed cases naming three individuals and 400–500 others as unidentified accused, a move that clearly opens the door for arbitrary targeting of innocents.
Without any prior notice or order, the municipal corporation’s bulldozers demolished steps in front of Muslim shops built over drains. The arrests were carried out in violation of Supreme Court guidelines, and the police filmed the detainees in a humiliating manner and circulated the videos on social media.
Comrade Bora noted that police presence continues at the main intersection of the locality. Alli Khan’s western end connects with Kila locality and its eastern end with Maheshpura, both of which are densely mixed Hindu–Muslim areas. No communal tension exists in these neighbourhoods, but the bulldozer action carried out only in Alli Khan exposes the communal conduct of the police. Residents remain hesitant to speak openly as they fear further persecution in an environment where attacks on Muslims have become routine under the Modi government.
CPI(ML) demands the formation of a high-level judicial commission to investigate the 21 September incident and the communal conduct of the police. The party also demanded the immediate release of all innocent youths and minors and an end to police, administrative, and municipal harassment of the Muslim community. The Uttarakhand Dhami government must stop its politics of intimidation and violence against Muslims in Kashipur and guarantee the restoration of their civic rights.
