This is not a Hollywood thriller where super heroes rescue people and take them to safe spots. It is actually a real scene from Nuh in Haryana on 31 July, when ADGP Mamta Singh and her team’s heroics saved more than 2500 people holed up inside a temple, from rioters. Between stone-pelting and raining of bullets, the police team under the leadership of Ms. Mamta Singh did an excellent job of protecting the people and taking them to a safe place, earning praise from every corner of the country.
Although things have almost returned to normal in Nuh and the situation is under control, that fateful day will be remembered by the survivors as a day of horror.
Recalling the incident in an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, 1996 batch IPS officer Mamta Singh, who is ADGP, Law & Order, said that she still cannot forget the traumatized faces of the women and children.
She said that God was by her side that day and that is why they somehow managed to save those people, as she recounted the whole story in detail.
REACHED TEMPLE WITH DIFFICULTY
When rioting started on 31 July, news of violence started coming in from various places. Police headquarters got the news that people are trapped in the Shiva temple of Nalhar. It was not known then that such a large number of people were trapped there. At that time, Ms. Singh took whatever force was available with her and started towards the temple. Some policemen, including few from Gurugram, along with SP Palwal, Lokendra Singh (Nuh SP Varun Singla was on leave), went with her. Reaching there was not at all easy as there were obstructions at many places.
Ms. Singh said, “There was firing and stone pelting all along the way. Controlling all that somehow I reached a spot, about 500 meters away from the main temple. On reaching there, the scene was even more horrifying. The roads leading to the temple were blocked. Arson was being carried out and stone pelting was going on.”
She understood that the temple cannot be reached through the main road. So the team decided to reach the temple through a rough road through the fields. But, on getting wind of the presence of the police, the rioters increased their firing. Suddenly, the stone pelting also increased and all around only burning fires were visible. Taking advantage of the situation, the rioters set all the vehicles of devotees on fire.
Ms. Singh said, “There are mountains all around the temple. That’s why the rioters had found a place to hide. It was clearly visible that a large number of people had assembled there and they started firing, hiding in the mountains and bushes. Seeing this situation, I gave clear instructions to my team that now they should start burst firing.”
LOCKED PEOPLE INSIDE
The police team locked the people present in the temple premises in rooms and halls, because rioters were firing wherever any crowd was visible. So the police team covered the place by first removing the crowd and then moved to retaliatory action. “At that time we were waiting for more force to come, but it was getting dark fast. That’s why we made an evacuation plan. Because, in the dark, the rioters would have taken the chance to enter the temple. And, if that had happened, the situation would have gone out of our hands,” the officer said.
STARTED EVACUATING
For evacuation, groups of women and children and men were formed. Everyone was very scared. That’s why no one was ready to come out even after being asked repeatedly by the police. So, to give the people confidence, Ms. Singh started walking out, saying to the people, “I will be at the front and will walk ahead. No one needs to be afraid.”
She went forward with a group and SP Lokendra Singh stayed in the temple with the remaining people. This was done as taking everyone out together was a big risk. All this while, vehicles were being burnt. Even on the road leading towards the temple, for 500 meters, burnt CNG vehicles were bursting every now and then. And the police had only 3 buses and few smaller vehicles at that time.
NARROW ESCAPE
The burning vehicles were removed from the route with the help of JCB. A plan was made to take the people through the rough roads of fields to the road. As Ms. Singh was trying to reach the road with the first group, they had a narrow escape. As soon as the rioters noticed that people were being taken out of the temple to the road, they started firing towards the road. A bullet went past Ms. Singh very closely and lodged into a car parked nearby. There was total chaos at that time, but, somehow, they all managed to escape. Within one to two hours, all the devotees were taken out of the temple and made to sit in vehicles. Meanwhile the JCB came and cleared the road. And then everyone was whisked away in the vehicles to safety.
Ms. Singh said, “The situation was so worse that even when people were boarding the last bus and the bus was leaving the spot, firing was going. Really, it was a horrific experience for everyone. We did burst firing and more than 500 rounds of firing.”
BRAVED BULLETS AND FIRES
Till now, 156 people have been arrested in Nuh and 286 in the whole of Haryana. The rioting was not localized to just one place. First, it started at Adbar Chowk in Nuh, where a policeman also got shot in the stomach. Here, a crowd of more than 2-2.5 thousand people was pelting stones. But when the police reached, firing also started and a policeman got shot. The police first handled the situation at the Chowk, then moved towards Tiranga Park where rioters were lathi-charged. Then, police took over the situation at Nalhar turn.
Only after that, police started moving towards the temple where the mob had burnt all the vehicles within the range of 500 meters of the temple. And, then they took charge of the situation and managed to evacuate all the people holed up inside the temple to safety amidst a hail of bullets and stones, and fiercely burning fires all around.
