By Irfan Engineer, CSS
Background and Fact Finding Process
In May 2026, communal tensions arose at Poonam Estate Cluster 1, a large residential complex in Mira Road under the jurisdiction of the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), over the temporary keeping of goats ahead of Bakra Eid (Eid al Adha).
What began as a dispute concerning a temporary goat enclosure escalated between approximately 22 and 26 May, involving objections from residents, municipal and police intervention, mobilisation of persons from outside the society, violence, involvement of religious and political organisations, and extensive circulation of competing narratives through social and conventional media. The episode significantly damaged relations within a residential community that residents from different faiths had described as historically cosmopolitan.
CSSS began its fact-finding on 30 May. The fact-finding team included Irfan Engineer, Director of CSSS; Sameer Wagle, member of civil society initiative Mumbai for Peace; Rukmini Iyer, peacebuilder; and Sudhakar Suradkar, retired IPS officer. The process included visits to Poonam Cluster; interviews with residents, managing committee representatives, political and community representatives and a person who reported being assaulted; an interview with Nagnath Kamble, associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal; engagement with senior municipal and police authorities; and observation of police-convened meetings with Muslim residents on 5 July and Hindu residents on 12 July.
CSSS met MBMC Municipal Commissioner Radhabinod A. Sharma, IAS, briefly on 2 July, but did not receive substantive clarification concerning the permissions process or the legal basis for municipal action. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul Laxman Chavan, IPS, directed the team to Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Kamble of Kashimira Police Station, who had handled the incident on the ground and subsequently engaged with CSSS.
This report distinguishes corroborated information and official statements from allegations and contested interpretations. Several relevant documents, including FIRs, CCTV footage, some permissions and correspondence, and municipal orders or circulars, were not available to CSSS. Conclusions concerning individual criminal responsibility are therefore outside the scope of this report.
The Immediate Dispute and Chronology
Poonam Cluster has a history of collective religious celebrations including Holi, Ganapati, Eid and Muharram. Muslim residents stated that goats had been temporarily kept within the society before Bakri Eid for approximately eight to ten years. They consistently maintained that qurbani, or ritual slaughter, had never taken place within the residential complex and was not intended there in 2026.
There had nevertheless been objections to the goat enclosure for several years. Hemendra Joshi, a Hindu resident who identified himself as a complainant, stated that he had raised objections from 2019 onwards, principally concerning smell and the use of common space. The 2026 conflict therefore involved a longstanding practice that was also subject to longstanding objections.
This story was originally published in ummid.com. Read the full story here.