Bengaluru Riots: No Muslim Houses, Vehicles Attacked By Mob Says Citizen’s Fact Finding Committee

Two police stations damaged, two houses gutted, two bars burnt and destroyed completely, 36 government vehicles including 2 DCPs vehicles burnt completely, 68 vehicles belonging to civilians parked on streets partially damaged, yet not one vehicle or individual belonging to the minority community had to bear the brunt of the vandalism of the mob that set Benglauru on fire last month.

A report by a fact finding committee formed by citizen's of Bengaluru highlights many such details regarding the alleged 'unplanned' reactionary action by over 1200 people who turned up late night to express their grief over an alleged social media post.

Having visited the site and interacted with all affected by the activities of the unruly mob, and probing the FIRs filed in the case, the committee has made various recommendations including the strengthening of the state police force, dismantling the drug mafia in the city, and recovering the losses incurred by both the State as well as private individuals from the rioters. The fact finding committee formed by prominent citizens of the city has submitted its report to the state government.

Key interesting facts highlighted by the report;

1. That a so called 'unruly' mob chose to attack only houses of Hindus, and checked for Hindu symbols on vehicles before attacking them.

2. Of the seventy FIRs that were accessed by the committee two FIRs were filed by the Muslims.

3. Vehicles that were owned by Muslims and parked on the streets much to the discomfort and objections by locals on other days, conspicuously weren't to be found the night of the riots.

4. All roads leading to the area where the mob went berserk were blocked - be it the ones leading to the houses of the MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy and his nephew Naveen Kumar, or to the two police stations in question. This added difficulties to the fire engines and police forces trying to access the place of action.

5. 1200 people have been named as accused in the 72 FIRs filed in the case. Of the ten key accused, five have been identified as prominent members of the SDPI.

Of the 72 FIRs, only two have been filed by Muslims where their two wheelers have been torched, both of which were parked outside the police station that was attacked.

6. The road in Muni Nanjappa garden is one of the few streets which have a Hindu population in an area whose demography has been predominantly Muslim. This is being seen by the committee, as also a part of the larger attempt to instil fear among residents to slowly trigger a change in the demographics, by indirectly making the area 'not safe' for Hindus. The committee has touted this as a possible instance of 'land jihad'.