Volunteers

Mercy Mission

NGO

.

Case of rioting for stopping the hand that feeds

minority community

Zareen Taj and her son Syed Tabrez at the police station

NGOs and outfits cooking food and taking care of the helpless now have a new enemy — the hate mongerfrom, an, said they are being abused and threatened while distributing the food to the poor. Tanveer Ahmed, an activist and a core member of Mercy Mission, said that these incidents began two-three days ago, when their volunteers were stopped and told not to distribute food.He said, “People started sharing fake news on social media and Whatsapp groups which started amplifying the hatred against a community. One of my school friends had to leave a Whatsapp group after people hounded her for taking a stand for her community.”Abdur Rahmaan, a volunteer with Zariya Group, an NGO, said that on Saturday evening when one of his volunteers, Babajan(in pic)was on his way to distribute food on Amruthahalli Main Road, he was stopped by four men on bikes who asked them what authority they had to distribute food. He said, “Without revealing their identities, they asked our volunteers to show their passes and threatened them, told them not to distribute food in their area. When our volunteer went ahead and stopped in Dasarahalli where the food was being distributed to rag pickers, the men returned and abused them. They asked the needy not to take the food from us and accused us of spitting in the food. There were about 60 rag pickers, who returned all the food packets without saying a word. Our volunteer was threatened and when he tried recording the incident, they snatched his mobile and threw it on the ground.”He added that those returned food packets were later distributed in Jakkur. “We did not give up, we knew that they would be hungry as no one in that area came to them to give them food. We went to the same place the next day with our food and this time as there was no one to oppose, they accepted the food,” he said.The NGO has filed a complaint in this regard with the Amruthahalli police station.Mushtaq, a volunteer from Our Nation Trust, said that they too faced hostility. He said they were distributing food from the BBMP in Belkere to daily wage workers where the local panchayat members called them on the next day and asked them not to distribute food in their area. “The man stood on the terrace and called me on my mobile phone and instructed me not to enter their area and distribute food to their people,” he said.*********Volunteers ofdistributing free rations among migrant population in the city allege that they are being harassed and in one case even attacked by goons.Volunteers from Swaraj Abhiyan, an NGO working for the marginalised sections of the minority community with a focus on migrant labourers, were distributing free rations at a slum in Dasarahalli on Monday, when they were attacked.On Sunday, when a few volunteers were distributing rations from a volunteer Zareen Taj’s house in Dasarahalli, goons turned up and threatened Zareen and the others, said Zia Nomani from Swaraj Abhiyan. Zareen and the others informed police who promised security for them whenever they distribute rations.On Monday, while the volunteers were at work in Dasarahalli, another group attacked them with cricket bats and weapons, injuring Zareen’s son Syed Tabrez and four others. They filed a complaint with the Amruthahalli police. The police have booked the group for assault using dangerous weapons, unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal intimidation, intentional insult provoking breach of peace.Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bhimashankar Guled, however, said there was nothing communal going on. “Many volunteers including the police distribute food here. Even the accused group is actively involved in distribution. On Monday, the group of youths had questioned the other volunteers why they were not wearing masks and this led to a scuffle,” Guled told BM.