Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala admits ‘lapses’ led to Nuh violence

The local administration in Haryana’s Nuh district and the organisers of a Hindu religious procession were unable to correctly assess the situation, state deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said on Tuesday, adding that “administrative lapses” in the run-up to the clashes that killed six people and brought violence to the Capital’s doorstep were under investigation.

Chautala, who on August 1 had blamed the organisers of the Brij Mandal Yatra for not providing a correct estimate of the number of people attending the event, also said that the government will take action against anyone found guilty and dismissed charges of communal bias. “There was a lack of assessment not only by the administration but also on the part of organisers who could not properly assess this entire episode properly,” said Chautala.

The deputy CM said that Nuh superintendent of police (SP) was on leave since July 22 and that the SP with additional charge of Nuh could not assess the situation properly. “The officials who gave the go ahead (for the yatra) too could not assess it properly. It is a point which is under investigation,” he said at a press conference, reiterating that the police personnel were not deployed properly through the yatra route.

The attack on the religious procession last Monday triggered communal clashes in Nuh, which quickly spread to Gurugram and other neighbouring cities, leaving six dead and over 100 injured, said police.

Since then, the state government has demolished around 750 shops and establishments, sparking allegations that the administration was behaving in a biased manner. The Punjab and Haryana high court halted the exercise on Monday.

Chief minister ML Khattar has previously said that his government is working to identify the perpetrators of the communal clashes. The state’s home minister Anil Vij told HT that Monday’s violence in Nuh was orchestrated and that “such a conflagration cannot happen at several points simultaneously”.

In his press conference, Chautala said that action was being taken against the guilty and dismissed charges that people from one community were being targeted during the demolition drive.