Communal Riots Induced Displacements.docx

COMMUNAL RIOTS INDUCED DISPLACEMENTS : VIOLENCE AND VICTIMISATION BY: ROOP CHAUDHARY

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“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.” -

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Streets that once were the life of the city – lay abandoned, homes that once reminded us of family values – destroyed. Shops that once sold everyone’s favourite Gulab Jamuns – stay closed. Hopes and dreams of a happy and bright future – crushed. Communal riots or violence has been defined under Section 3 (c) of the Communal Violence Bill, 2011 as follows – “Communal or targeted violence has been defined as any act or series of acts, whether spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm to the person and or property, knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group, which destroys the secular fabric of the nation.” The word ‘victimisation’ is defined as – “An act that exploits or victimizes someone (treats them unfairly); "capitalistic exploitation of the working class"; "paying Blacks less and charging them more is a form of victimization.” In a survey by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in May, 2015, about 38 million people were forced to flee from their homes by the end of the year 2014 globally owing to the communal violence. The scenario in India is no different with over 800,000 people displaced due to ethnic violence from 1990s to 2012 in just the Northeastern states. While, some 76,000 of them are still believed to live in the same apartheid state in November, 2011 according to a

survey by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Owing to this, India ranks 11th in the displaced people list. It is disheartening to see so many people lose their land and hopes for savage reasons like communal differences or clashes. Religion and community still influence the day to day proceedings of the people from each strata of the society. Mainly caused due to political and religious mind games, these riots not only divide the nation; tearing apart the unity and integrity but also, hampers the development of the nation. The stakeholders, that is, the displaced people face difficulties like, violence, unemployment, insecurity, poor health, etc., as they struggle to survive. This paper deals with the causes of such communal riots, their aftermath, problems faced by the people affected and a few recommendations. Further, to establish the concern, s case study has been done on the Muzaffarnagar riots; that completed two years recently, on the 8th of September, 2015. It is not astonishing to see that the displaced families rather want to stay in makeshift homes and dirty surroundings than return to their town.