What really happened in Goripalya?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

On 27th Aug, some of our PFI members were peacefully working in the area (Goripalya). They were busy with their task of collecting Zakath, as we do every year.

Arif Pasha (the ex-councillor) approached them and hurled abuses and spat pan juice on them, asking them to leave the place and never been seen around in the area doing Zakath Collection. Being in the state of fasting, and with respect for the peace of the area, particularly in the month of Ramzan, our cadre left the place, though they were abused and incited.

Later in the evening another group of our cadre was collecting Zakath a little away from that place. This group was attacked by about 35 goons bearing lethal weapons. Almost 18 members were injured and 2 of them quite seriously. One Rafiq was stabbed about 10 inches in the stomach (and is still being observed for spinal cord injury), while Irfan who sustained head injury has just come out of coma at Fortis, Bannerghatta Road.

The injured were rushed to hospitals and other members along with a group from the general public went to the JJR Nagar PS to launch a complaint. After a lot of insistence a written complaint was acknowledged by the officer, but the FIR was not registered. Our legal councel, Mr. Mohammed Tahir, left from the police station along with another of his colleague (law student), Mohammed Sharief of Yelahanka. About less than 50 meters away from the police station about 20-25 people pounced on Tahir, Sharief and Khalid attacking them with swords, knives and rods. Tahir sustained a skull fracture, a stab in the stomach, 2 stabs in the back, a fractured arm, a stashed forearm, and gashes in the thighs and several bruises on the face. A photo of his is attached (taken on the day while he was still in Victoria Hospital, battling for life)

On the advise of the duty doctor, he was moved to a private hospital for want of facilities at Victoria Hospital. Manipal Hospital stabilized his condition and performed surgery on him from 2.30am to 5.30am. He still lies in critical care at the ICU.

After these attacks on our cadre, Arif Pasha along with his sons Imran and Shabbir and his team of gondas went beserk on the public causing damage to matadors vans, auto-rickshaws and inconviniencing the public at large. He even swore at them and challenged them for having voted him out of power.

His goons went on to destroy a medical shop that was being refurbished (after it was earlier destroyed by the same set of goons on the announcement of Arif Pasha's electoral defeat in the Councillor elections). A tailor's shop was targetted and a newly opened Pani Kum Chai shop was also destroyed by the rioting goons.

Ten of our members went the next morning 28th Aug, to collect the FIR copies from the police station and they were detained by the police. They were later produced in front of the magistrate and remanded to JC on charges of preventing police officers from discharging their duties!

So we have 10 in JC, 3 seriously injured in Hospitals, public terrorised in the area and Arif Pasha and his goons still at large!

The Councillor from SDPi, Prof. Nazni Begum, met the Police commissioner and petitioned how Arif Pasha was preventing the developmental work in her ward by spewing venom at her workers, blocking sanitary lines with stone boulders, cutting off electrical wires and threatening the public for having voted him out of power in his ward where he had been 3 times victor. The Police Commissioner has assured her that by 2nd Sept you will have no reasons to complain. Just watch the news for what is going to happen! The Corporator jested with him that on 3rd, she will meet him with a garland!

This is clearly a case of immature and childish resentment by an ex- Corporator who has been shown the way out by public mandate. If one cannot accept the public verdict, he loses the right to contest for the position of serving the public.

The losses are heavy, the public is weary and the bias of the administration clears. The spirits of the goons must be high as they have managed to give the police a slip. Let us not overlook that Arif Pasha is the main accused in the publicly conducted murder of the brothers of his arch rival Altaf (also an ex-Corporator from the Congress stable in the same ward).

For somebody who is out on bail, this is a rather bold statement to be publicly threatening, wielding weapons openly and holding a democratic verdict against a people.

Perhaps, this can be attributed to the cost of change and development that the people of ward 135 have to pay, to come out of a rogue Corporator who has done nothing for them in 3 terms of his elected opportunity.