Haryana violence: After criticism, panchayats take back boycott letters | Gurgaon News – Times of India

GURGAON: After TOI reported on Wednesday that more than 50 villages in Mahendergarh, Jhajjar and Rewari had issued letters boycotting Muslim traders in the aftermath of the communal clashes in Nuh, two village sarpanches announced they were withdrawing their missives.

Another sarpanch, of Saidpur in Mahendergarh, had retracted his letter on Tuesday after legal advice that it was “illegal and unconstitutional to single out a community based on religion”.
The heads of two villages in Jhajjar — sarpanch Usha Devi of Kablana and Kavita of Mundakheda village — released videos on Wednesday, saying: “It is of utmost importance to respect every religion. We did not intend to hurt anybody’s religious sentiments. The letters were issued only as a preventive measure after cases of thefts started being reported in abundance.”
The retraction was made after Jhajjar deputy commissioner Shakti Singh told TOI such a move was unconstitutional and it appeared to be the work of “fringe elements” who were “spreading hate” after the clashes in Nuh and surrounding areas.
On Wednesday, the DC said he had issued notices to the panchayats regarding the letter.
On August 3 and 4, more than 50 sarpanches of the three districts had prepared, signed and stamped letters – all identically worded – barring the entry of Muslim traders and others of the community into their villages.
The letters, signed by sarpanches, also said Muslims living in the villages need to submit their identity documents to the police. Most of the villages barely have any residents from the minority community, with a few exceptions of families that have been living for three to four generations.
According to sarpanches TOI had spoken to, Saidpur sarpanch Vikas came up with the letter, and asked other village heads in Mahendergarh to follow suit. The Tajpur sarpanch Rajkumar had said that he copied a “template” of the letter issued by Vikas and signed it.
Later, Vikas said, he withdrew the letter on legal advice, but someone released them on social media.
On Wednesday, Narnaul’s BJP MLA Om Prakash Yadav said he was not aware of the letters. “But if such an act has been done, it is wrong and it is against the idea of India. The administration is doing its work,” he added.
Narnaul sub-divisional magistrate Manoj Kumar had already asked the block office to send show-cause notices to the villages for writing the letters, which were circulated widely on social media.
The residents of several of the villages TOI spoke with had said that the issue wasn’t of “much concern” to them as there were few locals from the minority community. Even where there are families from another community, everyone lived in harmony, they had said.