On January 15, 2024, three police personnel from the Haryana police recorded identical statements about a riot that took place in Nuh on July 31, 2023, in which two home guards with the Haryana police were killed.

“I have received information from secret sources that the violence on 31 July 2023 was carried out at the behest of anti-social organisations from outside, which work against the government, and were responsible for providing financial aid to the rioters,” all three officers told the investigating officer.

That three separate people used the exact same words in their statements didn’t raise any eyebrows at Haryana police. Instead, these statements were added as evidence to justify a series of contested arrests and invoking the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The violence in question took place in Nuh, Haryana, and has been framed as retaliation for the deaths of Nasir Hussain and Junaid Khan, who were allegedly murdered by cow vigilantes in February 2023. 

On July 31, 2023, six people were killed in Nuh, including two Haryana police home guards, a Muslim cleric ,and a member of Bajrang Dal, which is the youth wing of controversial Hindutva organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad. Following an investigation, a 300-page chargesheet filed by the local police of Nuh said the arrested accused had admitted to participating in the violence because they harboured hatred for members of Bajrang Dal “following the incident in which Nasir and Junaid were burnt alive”. 

Five persons were named in the first information report. They, along with 300-400 unknown persons, were charged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 379(b) (snatching), 427 (mischief) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC along with sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. 

Newslaundry accessed the 300-page chargesheet prepared by the local police of Nuh as well as other legal documents signed by Haryana police’s special investigation team which have been submitted before the court of chief judicial magistrate in Nuh so far. We also met the families of two accused – Mohamed Shokeen and Osama – who have been behind bars for almost two years and allege they have been falsely implicated by the police.