OpinionOur view
Two buses stoned in two nights: Haryana and Punjab owe Kashmiri travellers a full inquiry, not a quick verdict
Haryana Police ruled out a hate crime within hours of the attack near Nilokheri. A second Srinagar-bound bus was stoned near Ludhiana the next night. Whatever the motive, the people who use this highway need to see that both attacks are taken seriously.
On Saturday night a bus carrying passengers home to Jammu and Kashmir was attacked with stones and bricks outside a dhaba near Nilokheri in Haryana. A passenger and a dhaba worker were hurt. The driver said the attackers called him a “terrorist” after seeing the vehicle’s registration plate. The next night, near Ludhiana in Punjab, men threw stones at another Srinagar-bound sleeper bus run by the same operator. “Thank God, the passengers are safe,” its driver, Ishfaq Ahmad, said.
Haryana Police acted quickly in one sense: two men were arrested and an FIR was registered. They were just as quick to reach a conclusion. The trouble, they said, began as a parking argument, and they ruled out a hate crime. No complaint had come from the driver, the conductor or any passenger, the Karnal Superintendent of Police said, and people should not believe rumours on social media.
Why a quick verdict is not enough
The police may be right. Roadside quarrels turn violent in India every day, and rumours on social media can do real harm. Officers are right to warn against them, and it would be wrong for anyone, including the National Conference, which has called it a hate crime, to treat an allegation as settled.
But a conclusion reached within hours, before a full investigation, does not reassure anyone. A driver’s account that he was called a terrorist is a serious allegation, and it deserves to be examined, not set aside because he did not file the complaint. A second attack on the same company’s bus on the same route a day later makes the question harder, not easier, to dismiss. It may be a coincidence. Only an investigation can say.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah put it simply: “This unfortunate incident should never have taken place.” He has asked Haryana to act. Haryana should answer him with evidence, not adjectives.
What the states should do
First, Punjab Police should register a case over the Ludhiana stoning, if they have not already, identify those responsible and say what they find. Escorting the bus for a few kilometres was the right immediate response. It is not an investigation.
Second, Haryana Police should record statements from the passengers and crew of the Nilokheri bus, including the driver’s account of what was said, and examine any footage from the dhaba and the highway. The final charge sheet should reflect everything that happened, whatever the motive turns out to be.
Third, the two states should consider whether the two attacks are connected, and say so either way.
Fourth, the highway through Haryana and Punjab is the main road link for Kashmiri traders, students and workers travelling between Delhi and the Valley, and buses run on it through the night. Highway patrols and dhaba owners along the route should be alert, and passengers should have a clear number to call.
The point is not to presume the worst about anyone. It is that every passenger on a night bus home, from whichever state, should be able to trust that if they are attacked, the police will find out why.