A huge altercation broke out between members of the Muslim community and the Police in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Jagran has reported. When the in-charge of the town chauki of the Police was on a patrol with his colleague, they spotted a bunch of youth violating lockdown at the Kajiyan locality. Spotting the Police, the youth ran to hide at a shop. When the town in-charge entered the shop, he found quite a few youths there. When one of the youth, Aamir, made an attempt to make a run of it, he was hit on his hand by the colleague of the in-charge with his lathi.

Then, the youth became scared after the blow and he fell on the ground, as a consequence of which he broke his leg. Soon, members of the Muslim community came around and began surrounding the police in-charge and created a ruckus. Somehow, the in-charge managed to get on his bike and escape. But even then, he was followed by some members of the Muslim community for quite a distance. Scores of people soon gathered and started raising slogans against the Police.

After receiving news about the incident, Inspector Yogesh Sharma reached the spot and pacified the crowd. The people accused the Police of attacking citizens with cause. They were calmed down somehow and the injured youth was taken to a private doctor. Circle Officer Shakeel Ahmed also reached the venue and conveyed the crowd that injured was hurt because he got scared and fell on the ground. He emphasized that violators of the lockdown will be strictly dealt with.

The Muslim Street Veto

The incident once again highlights the phenomenon of the Muslim Street Veto. The worldview of significant sections of the Muslim community make it quite difficult, and in certain cases impossible, to implement law and order in ghettos where they are the overwhelming majority. There is significant resistance towards the implementation of law and order in these areas and a lot of these places are ‘no-go zones’ even for the Police.

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On the rare occasions that the Police does enter these areas to enforce the bare minimum law and order, often the collective resistance to it is so great that the Police is forced to make a retreat for fear of their lives as the recent incident demonstrates. It will not be far-fetched to assert that parallel laws govern these areas and the might of the Indian State and the Indian Constitution runs very thin. The mob mentality in many of these areas is so dominant that it makes it very well impossible to ensure that proper law and order is maintained in these areas. During the Wuhan Coronavirus Pandemic, such open defiance of Indian laws has emerged as a grave threat to the safety and security of the country.

Attacks on Police

At Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, recently, a Muslim mob attacked the Police after they were asked to avoid mass prayers in view of the nationwide lockdown imposed to fight the Wuhan Coronavirus. They had gathered in large numbers at a Mosque defying all norms of social distancing. In Aligarh as well, the Police were surrounded by a Muslim mob and attacked them with stones after the Police urged them to not gather at Mosques for Namaz.

In Moradabad as well, the medical team which had gone to the area to transport a Coronavirus suspect to the hospital were attacked with stones. The incident took place at Haji Neb Masjid area in Moradabad when a team of doctors and medical staff went to take away two persons suspected of having novel coronavirus in the area. The mob pelted stones at the ambulance and doctors. The stones were also pelted on the police van which came to rescue the health workers later. Several people have been injured in the ensuing mayhem, including Dr Sudhish Agrawal. According to health officials, a thousand people came out on the streets to attack the medical team. Numerous people, including over a dozen women, were arrested for the same later on.