A group of Supreme Court (SC) advocates and human rights activists, that visited Tripura to take stock of the communal tensions in the state, has stated that the violence “targeted the Muslim community” in the state.
SC advocates and human rights activists – Ehtesham Hashmi, Amit Srivastav, Ansar Indori and Mukesh had visited Tripura recently and released a report on the violence in the state on Tuesday.
The group of lawyers also claimed that the BJP-led Tripura government wasn’t proactive enough to take appropriate steps and prevent the violence from breaking out.
“Four days before this incident, Muslim organisation Jamaat-E-Ulema (Hind) met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Dev and informed him that such incidents could take place and there is a danger to the peace between Hindus and Muslims. Despite this, the government not taking any action is tantamount to sponsoring this violence,” the team said in its report.
According to the report published by the SC lawyers, at least 12 mosques, nine shops and three houses belonging to the minority community in the state were allegedly targeted during the protest rallies taken out by groups like the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch.
“Protests were held in 51 places in Tripura over incidents of attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. Violence started after the demonstrations. The fact which has come to light before us primarily indicates that if the government had taken appropriate steps on time, the incident would not have assumed such formidable form,” SC lawyer Ehtesham Hashmi was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.
