Organisations who had given a call for Surat bandh on Monday to protest the gangrape of a city girl, withdrew their call after police commissioner, Deepak Swaroop, was transferred.
Most of the organisations who had given a call for Surat bandh on Monday to protest the gangrape of a city girl, withdrew their call after police commissioner, Deepak Swaroop, was transferred. But the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has refused to withdraw its call for a Surat bandh. Interestingly, a number of Muslim organisations, too, have announced their support for the bandh call.
“We condemn the gangrape and want to show that the Muslim community wants the rapists to be punished,” said Zahiruddin Bukhari, president, Surat District Muslim Education Society. “This is why we have decided to support the bandh.”
The Surat Young Muslim Graduate Association, Anjuman-e-Islam, Surat Islam Yatimkhana Trust, Muslim Brotherhood and around a dozen other Muslim organisations have also declared support for the bandh. However, minority-dominated areas in the city are tense as minority community members here are afraid the incident might be used against them by ‘communal groups’ as all the three suspected rapists are Muslim.
Justifying the VHP’s refusal to withdraw the bandh call, Utkarsh Patel, general secretary, Surat VHP, said that the government may have transferred the police commissioner but it had said nothing about their demands.
“We have demanded a verdict in the gangrape case in 10-15 days and a special judicial bench needs to be setup for that,” Patel said. “Even a fast-track court will take no less than six to eight months to punish the rapists.” He, however, gave the assurance that the VHP had no plans to resort to violence to enforce the bandh.
The BJP and the Congress have both said that they will not be involved in the bandh nor support it, but the Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP) has declared its support for Surat bandh on Monday.
Muslims here are also worried about the continuous demonstrations in the city. Minority-dominated areas like Ranitalao, Zampa-bazaar, Chowk and Begumpura are unusually quiet as people are anxious about future developments.
Shah meets rape victim, assures justiceState home minister Amit Shah on Sunday met the gangrape victim and her family members in Surat. The meeting took place at around 6.30 am at the Circuit House and not at the victim's residence, as the family did not want to attract unnecessary attention. A couple of prominent Surat BJP leaders were also present. During the meeting, Shah told the girl and her family that justice will be done. Shah also met noted litterateur Bhagwati Kumar Sharma, who had made strong statements during a meeting of leading citizens of the city on Friday. Shah told him that the government would ensure quick justice for the victim.
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