Evil rears its ugly head on Holika Dahan, 60-year-old Muslim lynched in Sonbhadra

A 60-year-old was killed in Parsoi village on the night of March 20, allegedly following a dispute over a concrete platform where some of the villagers kept tazias during Muharram.

Sonbhadra lynching
 
Sonbhadra: Mob lynchings and lawlessness refuse to subside in Uttar Pradesh as another man was lynched in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh. A 60-year-old was killed in Parsoi village on the night of March 20, allegedly following a dispute over a concrete platform where some of the villagers kept tazias during Muharram.
 
It is ironic that the incident happened on the night of Holika Dahan when the nation was burning the holy pyre to destroy evil.
 
On the night of 20 March, Mohammed Anwar, was attacked and killed by a group of over 20 people.
 
Hailing from Ghazipur, 25-year-old Hasnain Anwar Seikh, in a report by Firstpost, said that his father was strolling in the village after having dinner when he saw around 20 men gathered near Imam Chowk on the night of Holika Dahan. “My mother told my father that something was happening at Imam Chowk and asked him to go there and check as it was not the place where Holika is burned. My father went there and someone attacked him with an axe from behind. They gagged him and started beating him up. We were helpless as no one from the village came to rescue him. We called the police helpline and with the help of the police, we took him to the hospital, but by then, it was too late. My father was declared dead on arrival,” the mourning son said.
 
According to the FIR lodged at Obra police station, under whose jurisdiction Parsoi falls, the victim, Mohammed Anwar, was attacked when he tried to prevent a group of people from demolishing the platform. Ravindra Kharwar, a government school teacher, has been named as the main accused in the FIR along with 14 others, 11 of them juveniles, a report by The Indian Express said.
 
Naeem Ghazipuri, Anwar’s elder brother, alleges the concrete platform was never a cause of dispute between the Muslims and the dominant Scheduled Tribes in the village, until Kharwar joined the government junior high school six months ago and, according to the FIR, “began holding a Sangh shakha near the platform,” the report said.
 
“The village pradhan got the platform built in 2007 to keep tazias during Muharram and all people in the village used to participate in the procession. But after the teacher came to the village six months ago, he instigated some of the villagers and got it demolished once, but the administration brokered a compromise between the two communities and got it rebuilt,” he said in the report.
 
Ameeque Jamei, the national spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, the main party in Opposition in Uttar Pradesh, said that the condition of law and order in the state has been deteriorating. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on the occasion of completion of two years of his government, claimed that the law and order situation in the state has become an example for other states.
 
“Even the lawmakers of the ruling party are not safe. An MLA of the ruling BJP party was shot at on Holi in Lakhimpur Kheri. In such kind of environment, how will the minorities feel safe, and that too when they have been facing hate crime incidents?” he said in the report by Firstpost, condemning the incident and demanding stern action against the accused.
 
The police has lodged an FIR against 19 people and two unnamed persons for rioting, unlawful assembly and murder under Sections 147, 148, 149, 295, 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While 13 people have already been taken into custody, the police have launched a manhunt to nab the rest.
 
A study reported by Sabrang India found the highest number of communal incidents in Uttar Pradesh. In 2018, out of 38 communal incidents, 17 were reported from UP. This was followed by 7 in Bihar and 5 in Maharashtra.
 
The majority, in fact, 36 out of 38 communal incidents took place in BJP ruled states. Two communal incidents took place in West Bengal which is ruled by Trinamool Congress. 22 states out of 29 in India today are ruled by BJP.
 

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