Kasganj Riots: Who Is Chandan Gupta, Is He A 'Martyr'?

The family members of 21-year-old Chandan Gupta, who died of bullet injuries in clashes that broke out during an “unauthorised” ‘Tiranga Yatra’ leading to communal violence in Kasganj town in Uttar Pradesh on 26 January, has demanded that the deceased be granted the status of “martyr”.

“Sarkar se to paise maange hi nahin hai; hamari ek hi demand hai ki ladke ko shaheed ka darja diya jaye kyunki use 26 January ke din goli mili aur woh Bharat Mata Ki Jai kahte hue shaheed ho gaya (We have not asked for an ex-gratia payment, our single demand is that the boy be declared a martyr as he got a bullet on 26 January, Republic Day, and he died chanting the slogan Bharat Mata Ki Jai),” said Chandan’s father Sushil Gupta, a compounder working with a private nursing home, to Newsclick.

The state government has paid Rs 20 lakh to the victim’s father as compensation.

“He (Chandan) had thought that the state has Yogi government and the Centre has Modi government. Therefore, no one will stop him (from taking out the illegal motor bike rally in the name of ‘Tiranga Yatra’). But he was wrong. He did not know shouting Bharat Mata Ki Jai has now become a crime,” said Sushil, sitting in the drawing room of his single-storey house at Shivalay Gali located in the middle of the main market in the western UP town.

Who was Chandan Gupta?

Chandan, said his father, was pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce degree (final year) from KA PG College. Chandan was among the founding members of a local NGO called ‘Sankalp Foundation’ which, according to family members, is involved in people’s welfare work such as organising blood donation camps, blanket distribution, etc.

When asked about the controversial bike rally that is said to have instigated the riots, Chandan’s father said it was an “age-old” practice. 

“Youngsters organise the ‘Prabhat Pheri’ (a procession organised by school students with the National Flag and patriotic songs) every year on Independence Day and Republic Day for quite a long time. They pass through streets and roads with the Tiranga (tricolour) in their hands chanting slogans like Vande Matram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” he said.

However, he added, “Jis raste pe woh gaye, wahan kabhi nahin jaate the (They had never taken the route they took this year).”

The bike rally was passing through a narrow lane of Baddu Nagar, a Muslim-majority locality. When it reached a tri-section (called by locals as Veer Abdul Hamid Tiraha) in the area, preparations of the flag-hoisting ceremony were underway with a decorated pole erected in the middle of the trisection and some chairs for people to sit.

“We requested them to join the celebrations but they asked us to give them way or let them hoist a saffron flag as well,” a Baddu Nagar resident, speaking anonymously, told Newsclick.

“We tried to persuade them that chairs had been put and removing all the chairs to make space for around 100 motor bikes was not possible. And we categorically told them that we won’t allow them to hoist saffron flag. This enraged them and they began shouting slogans such as Hindustan Mein Rahna Hoga, Vande Matram Kahna Hoga, Pakistan Murdabad, etc. This led to an altercation, after which some rode away while others fled on foot, leaving their bikes behind.”

The first reports of gunfire being exchanged came from the Balram Gate area, around 1km away from Baddu Nagar, around half an hour after the initial argument had taken place on January 26. Two persons, identified as Chandan Gupta and Naushad, received bullet injuries. Gupta died in the hospital, while Naushad was later sent to Aligarh, where he is still under treatment.

Video footage of the clash – accessed by this website – corroborates the locals’ claims. Youths carrying saffron flags along with the tricolour can be seen shouting the inflammatory slogans.

While trying to know more about Chandan and Sankalp Foundation, this correspondent met a Nadrai Gate resident named Ram Pandey, also a student of B.Com (second year) from the same college, who said, “Tiranga Yatra mein wahi log the, jinke andar Hindutva aaj bhi bacha hua hai (Only those participated in the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ who still have the Hindutva ideology remaining in them).”

One of Chandan’s friends, who was his senior in college and one of the office-bearers of Sankalp, said the NGO did work for people’s welfare. 

“Though Chandan, as far as I know, was not officially associated with any other organisation besides Sankalp, he was part of a rally that was planned only on 25 January night. The intention was well-known and I had alerted the district administration, the UP chief minister and the Union home minister in advance through Twitter. But it appears that they did not take it seriously,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Asked how the “intention was well-known”, he referred to a Facebook war between two of his friends belonging to two communities. 

“One of my Facebook friends was extremely angry with the government order to uninstall loudspeakers from temples while they were left untouched in mosques. He wrote it on Facebook. The post received reactions and a war of words began that continued for around two weeks. This became so bitter that both communities challenged each other to dare to enter in their respective localities. The challenge was accepted by the writer of the post in a thread of comments that reached over a thousand,” he said.

Disturbed at the turn of events, he called both groups and tried to pacify them. They had assured him that they would not do any harm to each other. “Despite that I alerted the UP Police, CM and Union Home Minister about the comments five days before the incident took place. Unfortunately, none of them took it seriously,” he added.

He contradicted Chandan’s father, who had said the youth of the city associated with Sankalp organised ‘Tiranga Yatra’ every year on the two national days. “The NGO came into existence in 2017 and I was informed about the rally on 25 January night, despite the fact that I am the senior-most office bearer of the organisation,” he said.

“But fearing that it will take a violent turn, I politely turned down the request of joining it.”

Meanwhile, a video has now surfaced that shows the Hindu youths marching towards the Muslim-dominated area on January 26 morning carrying guns. The footage, accessed by Newsclick, shows several rounds being fired. In the video, shot from the roof of the local tehsil office, gun shots can be heard. It also shows many in the group holding clubs and sticks.

The police are examining the footage. Chandan, they said, was shot in the same firing.

The FIR filed by Kasganj Kotwali SHO Ripudaman Singh states that “the youths (from the Tiranga Yatra) were challenging men from the other community after the latter stopped them from passing through their colony”.

“They did not listen even after the police intervened and tried to pacify them. Meanwhile, bullet shots were heard from the alleyway, after which the group (that took out the rally) started pelting stones on people from the other community and both groups exchanged fire and even targetted policemen,” says the FIR.

Meanwhile, the police arrested the main accused in Chandan’s murder on 31 January morning. “Salim Jawed, the main accused, was taken into custody this morning from the city,” said Aligarh Range IG Sanjeev Gupta.

So far, at least 118 people have been nabbed in connection with the violence while security forces were maintaining a tight vigil.