New Delhi: Days after a video surfaced on social media where a group of five people were seen beating a Muslim man and his son in Ajmer and allegedly asked them to go to Pakistan, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Wednesday directed the Rajasthan government to file a report on the incident in seven days.
"...the Commission has taken suo-moto cognizance of the news circulated in the social media regarding assault on a beggar belonging to minority community in Ajmer. Though the news has now been removed from the social media platform for violating the guidelines, however, it was reported that the beggar was nearly beaten up as he belongs to a minority community," the letter undersigned by NCM director A. Dhanalakshmi stated.
The NCM letter sent to the Rajasthan chief secretary pointed out that such incidents of violence on communal grounds pose a serious threat to the secular structure of the country and create insecurity among the minorities throughout the country.
"In light of the nature of the incident, the Commission direct the chief secretary to enquire into the incident and furnish a detailed report to the commission within 7 days of receipt of this communication, containing therein the details of the sections the IPC under which the accused were booked, number of accused who were arrested, grounds on which bail was granted, the action proposed to be taken against those police officials who have not performed their duties diligently and preventive measures to avoid recurrence of such communal incidents in future," the letter added.
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The NCM director also warned that in case of failure to furnish a report within the stipulated time, the Commission will be constrained to initiate further action as per provisions of NCM Act, 1992.
Notably, the statement released by Ajmer police on Monday identified the main accused as Lalit Sharma, belonging to Uttar Pradesh. The police statement said that the assault was carried out by Sharma and a few of his associates.
Subsequently, five people including Lalit Sharma were arrested under IPC section 151 in the case. However, after a day of detention, the accused were released on bail.
