“I am afraid to live in India. Has Jharkhand become Pakistan? If we continue to be harassed like this, where will we go?” These are the words of Richa Bharti’s father. The same Richa, who was asked by a Ranchi court to distribute five copies of Quran as a condition for bail for posting a communal post on social media.
Richa’s father Prakash Patel alleged that his family is being harassed by the police at the behest of Jharkhand government.
“On April 23, suddenly 5-6 policemen came to my house and started to tinker with our mobile phones, without any search warrant. They took away Richa’s mobile phone. I asked them on whose complaint, they were conducting the search, but made no reply,” he said.
This was not the first time, a few weeks ago, the police had visited the house and taken away his wife’s phone, without giving any reason, Patel said. “I kept visiting the police station to get the phone back. They said it has been confiscated,” he added.
Speaking to media, Richa apprehended that the police were acting on the tweets tagged to government and police officials by some Muslims.
Narrating the agony, an emotional Patel said they are now ashamed to live in India because of the ignominy they are facing at the hands of the police. “When the mobile phone was confiscated and taken away, we visited the police station, but did not find anyone. Disappointed, we returned to the house, but 15-20 policemen again reached our house the same evening,” he said.
Patel said his family is being treated as criminals for unsubstantiated reasons. Amidst this, the health of Richa’s mother is deteriorating after undergoing tumor surgery a few days ago.
“In one of the interrogations, her health deteriorated, and the police, had to rush her to the hospital. She was treated and later discharged,” Patel said.
Following the Quran distributing controversy, Patel alleged that the police have not acted against those who had created fake Facebook accounts in Richa’s name, despite submitting a memorandum to the police in this regard.
The visits of the police to Richa’s house has resulted in rumours. Muslims in the area have started to make livid comments against her family. “One Shehzad, even talked about beating and exterminating our family,” Patel said.
He also alleged that some Muslim youth had spat on the door of their house and escaped. “A few days back, we were sitting on the terrace of our house. Later, we saw two to four Muslim youth swearing at our family, while passing by our house. Before they could escape, they spat on the door, four to five times,” Patel said.
He alleged that the Muslims constantly are provoking them to create a scene in the area.
He also alleged that the police made him to visit the police station thrice for lodging a complaint, but it was accepted only after DSP’s intervention.
“The complaint, however, was changed without our consent. We have sought Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s intervention. Sadly, he has maintained a stoic silence on the issue,” Patel said.
He said the police are shirking their duty to take action the culprits by saying, “What should we do? Should we shoot them because of you? Out of frustration, Patel told the police to shoot down his entire family.
For now, the police has returned Richa’s phone, but the family is still in a state of shock due to their harassment.
Patel further said there is a general feeling in the country that people are living in an Islamic state because Hindu banners are being removed from shops selling fruits in Jamshedpur and Hindus getting killed in Bengal. “If a single fake evidence is found against Richa, she would be thrown into the jail,” he added.
Asked why is he not disclosing the name of the accused to the police, Patel replied said it would only invite bigger trouble to his family as the culprits would try to hatch a big conspiracy against them.
The police, however, denied allegations and said they are helping Richa’s family, but they are indulging in gimmicks. They also said there is no merit in Richa family’s fear claims as they have constantly been patrolling the area during lockdown. They also denied tampering with the complaint letter.
“To what extent is it correct to dismiss the allegations of someone as a ‘gimmick’? That too when the family is struggling with many other problems themselves,” Patel said.
In July 2019, a court in Ranchi had ordered Richa to distribute Quran. She had refused to accept the order by arguing that tomorrow the court could ask her to adopt Islam. Later the court withdrew its order after protests.