48 years of exile of Hindu family ends as Sambhal riot victim gets land; ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ performed on CM Yogi’s initiative
Sambhal, 04 June: Uttar Pradesh government minister JPS Rathore reached Sambhal on Thursday to meet the family members of Ramsharan Rastogi, who lost his life at the hands of rioters in the communal riots of 1978 in Sambhal district, and handed over the land record of rights (RoR) to the family members. The family members have expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for getting the ownership of land from the government.
In fact, in the 1978 Sambhal communal riots, Ramsharan Rastogi was murdered, his body mutilated, and thrown into a well. Last year, his grandson, Kapil Rastogi, along with his mother, met with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and sought justice. Following this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promised to provide land for the rehabilitation of the victim’s family.
Earlier, in the Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi had recounted the entire incident of the brutal murder of 184 Hindus in Sambhal. Following this, the administration on Thursday allotted a residential lease of 100 square meters of land in Sherkhan Sarai Bahar Chungi village to Rukman Rastogi, daughter-in-law of deceased Ramsharan Rastogi. The certificate was handed over to Rastogi’s family by JPS Rathore, Minister of State for Cooperation and Minister in charge of the district, in the presence of Commissioner Anjaneya Kumar, District Magistrate Ankit Khandelwal, and Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi. The Minister in charge also laid the first foundation stone after transferring possession of the land.
On this occasion, Rathore, the Minister in charge of Sambhal, said, “It is a very unfortunate situation for us that more than 100 people lost their lives in the 1978 riots. Their homes were burned. This land was desecrated. People were oppressed here. People left their homes here. On the orders of the Chief Minister, leases of 100 square meters each are being issued to help them rebuild their homes. The government is making efforts to rehabilitate other such people.”
Kapil Rastogi, grandson of deceased Ramsharan Rastogi, said, “On March 29, 1978, my grandfather Ramsharan Rastogi was sitting at his shop when a mob of rioters looted the shop. When he protested, the rioters stabbed him 109 times and stabbed him all over his body, killing him.” Not only this, after the murder, they tied him to the scales and weights kept in the shop and threw him into the well. Kapil told that in 2005, he received threats from rioters regarding the case, due to which he fled from here and now lives in Delhi.
Grandson Kapil Rastogi said that they met the Chief Minister at his residence and submitted a letter requesting help. Yogi then directed the district administration to take action, and now they are receiving a lease for 100 square meters of land in Sherkhan Sarai to settle in Sambhal. Granting the lease and establishing a home here makes us feel that justice has finally been served. After a 48-year struggle, the Yogi government and the district administration have taken notice of us.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s daughter-in-law, Rukman Rastogi, said that after the 1978 riots, we began receiving threats, forcing us to migrate. But now we have received the lease and want to build a home and settle down. Many thanks to Chief Minister Yogi and the Sambhal administration.
