BHOPAL – Haji Mohammad Haroon, president Jamiat Ulema Madhya Pradesh unit, has vehemently condemned the action of the Khargone district administration which has issued a notice to a 12-year-old minor child to pay Rs.2 lakh 90,000 thousand by the Claims Tribunal in connection with the fine for the riots that took place on the occasion of Ram Navami riots in the city.

A Press statement of Haji Haroon issued by Haji Mohammad Imran Haroon, Press Secretary Jamiat Ulema Madhya Pradesh unit, said that the administration is taking one-sided action from the beginning in the Khargone riots cases. On one hand the administration is not taking any action against the real culprits while on the other even minor children are not being spared.

‘Boy at home at time of riots’

According to the investigation, he said, the minor child who has been handed over the notice to pay fine was at home at that time of riots but the administration has given him a notice of fine which is a one-sided and cruel action of the administration. It is further said that it is the work of the courts to convict someone, where after a full hearing, an order is issued. This is the law of the country but the administration is doing the work of punishing the people without fulfilling all the principles of natural justice and without any court action and high level investigation. People’s houses are also being demolished which is totally against the Indian Constitution and law.

Haji Haroon has demanded from the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan that the real culprits should be put in the dock by conducting a high-level inquiry into the Khargone riots and the officers who have taken negligent steps and served notices of fine to the minor child. Strict action should be taken against the responsible officers, he urged.

The complainant in the boy’s case, a woman, had claimed that her property was damaged when a mob went on rampage during a Ram Navami procession on April 10.
“My son is a minor. We were sleeping when the riots happened. We want justice,” said Kalu Khan. His wife Ranu said her son is “constantly in fear that the police will arrest him.”

The family had filed an appeal before the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking that the notice be scrapped. But on September 12, the court dismissed the petition, saying any objections should be filed with the Tribunal. “If the objection is filed, the same shall be considered and decided by the tribunal in accordance with the law,” the order read.