A year after ‘economic boycott’, court-ordered FIR gives hope to Patan Muslims

A year after the Patidar community in Balisana village in Gujarat’s Patan district allegedly called for the economic boycott of Muslims following a communal riot, an FIR has been finally filed against the accused on the orders of a district court.

In deference to court orders, the FIR was filed on Wednesday (July 31) against the accused villagers for “promoting enmity between two groups on the basis of religious identities” at Balisana Police Station in Patan.

The charges were filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 153 (B) for promoting enmity between different groups and 505 (2) for circulating or publishing statements containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote the feeling of enmity.

What prompted the FIR?

The recent order by the court of Additional Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class, HP Joshi, came while hearing an application filed in July 2023 by Muslim families of Balisana village.

The petitioner, Makbulhusen Dilavarbhai Shekh, said he had to knock on the doors of the court after local police refused to file an FIR following the ‘boycott’.

In a hearing on July 26, the judge issued an order to police to accept the application filed by Shekh and register an FIR against the accused at the Balisana police station.

“A cognisable offence appeared to have been committed and a legal action ought to be taken,” the court observed.

Video clips gave away accused

Earlier, the court had directed police to inquire into the matter and submit a report. In their report, police said no crime appeared to have been committed.

The court, however, refused to accept the report after considering the video clips – allegedly circulated by the accused against the Muslim community on social media – and statements of affected Muslim persons who appeared as witnesses in the case.

“We submitted the said clip in the court as evidence and reported that a complaint was not filed by the local police on the basis of the video. The complainant even approached the office of the Superintendent of Police of Patan but in vain,” Advocate Yusuf Sheikh who represented the complainants in court, told The Federal.

Why police dragged feet on FIR?

Yusuf said an FIR has now been filed against Rakesh Patel, Jayanti Patel, Anil Patel, Dipak Patel, Rohit Chenawala, and Dhruv Patel – all residents of Balisana village after the court order.

He said these people were the chief orchestrators of the ‘boycott’ call.

“The Balisana Police had initially filed a report seeking closure of the case when the court sought a report from them. They claimed that that the boycott call was a result of the communal riots between Muslims community members and members of Patel community of the village. They told the court that although the call was given to throw out Muslims from Hindu-owned shops, no one was forced to do so, no one was beaten up or abused or kept enmity with Muslim community members. They said, rather it was stated that ‘if they (Muslims) fight with us (Hindus), we won’t keep any relationship with them’. Hence no criminal case was filed,” added Yusuf.

Muslims lost livelihood due to boycott: Petitioner

In his petition, Shekh claimed that the ‘boycott’ call caused several Muslims to lose their livelihood.

“Many Muslims who were running shops owned by Hindus for many years were asked to leave following the boycott call. It affected our businesses and our livelihood as nobody would hire us or give us any job. Some families even had to leave and migrate out of Balisana,” Shekh said.

“Nearly two months after the riot in July last year, I approached the district Superintendent of Police with videos shared on social media that showed some villagers inciting others for an economic boycott of Muslims and to force them out of rented shops in the village market. But no action was initiated against those who were calling for an economic boycott of Muslims of Balisana,” added Shekh.

‘Boycott’ a fallout of riot

On July 16 last year, a religious post on Instagram by one Krish Patel, a resident of Balisana village, had offended the Muslim community which had asked for the post to be taken down.

Even though leaders of the Muslim and Patidar communities had settled down the matter peacefully, later in the evening, youths of both the communities clashed, armed with iron rods and swords, leading to a riot-like situation. Later stones were pelted at homes of Muslims in the village.

Two FIRs against 10 people were filed later. In one of the FIRs, filed by representatives of the Patel community, who form the majority in the village, eight Muslim men were named. In the other FIR, filed by representatives of Muslims, two Patel men were named.

A month later, a meeting was held by the Patels in the village and community leaders reportedly decided to boycott the Muslims as a revenge against the arrests of the two Patel men. Later a post on the same was circulated widely on social media.