A Fact-Finding Committee comprising a professor and some students of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha (MGAHV), social activists and journalists visited Akot (District Akola in Maharashtra) on 23rd November’ 2012. An incident of communal violence occurred on 23rd October in Akot in which four people were killed and several injured. 22 homes of Muslim community and about 25 shops belonging to both Hindu & Muslim communities were set ablaze. All the deceased were from lower-middle class background.
The Backdrop of Communal Violence
The pitch for communal violence was laid down on 19th October. There were 65 Durga Puja Mandals celebrating the nine day long Navratri festival in the whole of Akot town. Every Mandal is affiliated to a particular caste-based community e.g. Mali community, Kunbi community, Dhobi community etc. A Muslim boy inadvertently spitted while passing alongside a Mandal belonging to Dhobi and Bhoi community whose honchos belonged to Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). He was accompanied by his friend of same age. The spitting did not even reach closer to the idol but a few droplets of saliva certainly fell down on the curtain. The boy was caught by the Mandal workers, was beaten up and held hostage on the venue. A crowd gathered after the ensuing ruckus and a person named Shoaib reached there to understand the goings-on; he intervened to a certain extent and tried to placate the Mandal workers. He urged them to consider the age of the boy, who was just seven or eight years old. The Mandal workers even said that today these people are spitting on the idol, and tomorrow they would do so on our faces. Shoaib, however, managed to settle the matter and free the boy from their hostage. The news of the incident spread in the surrounding areas after half an hour or so. A person named Aijaz, who is a tailor by profession and whose shop is located close to where the incident occurred, came over to workers and sought to find out what was it all about; he, too, then returned to his shop.
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