All records for the last 50 years clearly show that the land of about 2 square km belongs to the police. Till two years ago, the land was used as residential quarters of senior police officials who were transferred to Bhiwandi.
The locals feel ever since the police occupied the land two years ago, they have illegally encroached on 30 feet of land that was originally part of the graveyard.
"I have seen bottles of beer and alcohol that the policemen throw into the graveyard. They are playing cards next to our graveyard. They smoke bidis and cigarettes and chuck the butts into our graveyard. No sane person from any religion will tolerate such activities," says Nazim.
"They just want to create trouble in this peaceful area by building an outpost. There has been no riots and no tension in and around this locality. Why do they want to keep a watch on us? They should rather construct an outpost 5 km from here near the Rameshwar Mandir, which is a communally sensitive area," he adds.
Bhiwandi has a history of communal violence, as the riots in 1970 and in the early 1980s proved. But during the Bombay riots of 1992-1993, it was completely peaceful.
Image: A tense Bhiwandi a day after the incident.
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