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Hate Watch: Muslim bangle seller thrashed, wares looted in Indore

Video showing men mercilessly beating him and warning him to never enter any Hindu locality again, goes viral

MuslimImage Courtesy:upcnews.in

A horrific incident was reported on Sunday, August 22 where a Muslim bangle seller was beaten up by a mob, Govind Nagar area of Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The video clip of the mob beating up the 25-year old youth identified as Taslim has gone viral on social media, causing an uproar on social media platforms, prompted political mud-slinging, gave a chance to news channels to incite hatred, culminating in the victim of the attack becoming an accused for eve-teasing.

In a rather shocking turn of events, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters that the man was selling bangles to women by posing as a Hindu and eventually a case was registered against the young man, who was a victim of the mob assault.

In the video it can be seen that someone is tugging at the victim’s shirt and other men are emptying his bag full of bangles he meant to sell to find out what he is carrying in his bag. After finding out just multiple packs of bangles the man calls out to women in the market and asks them to come and pick up as many bangles as they want. 

He also warned the victim not come back to the area, or be seen in any Hindu locality hence forth. Throughout the video, other men continue to hit him and assault him. The youth is constantly joining his hands and begging them to let him go as the mob continues to threaten him and his religious identity. The men then started encouraging more and more people from the crowd gathered to hit the youth and people even come up and beat him black and blue, kicking him, slapping him. The men are then seen pulling his pants looking for money and his ID card. One of the men can even be heard saying that don’t hit in a manner that would leave a mark or visible injury. To say the least, the video is a shameful reflection of what a person from the Muslim community has to face for merely trying to make an honest living of selling bangles.

An FIR was finally registered but against unidentified accused under sections 141 , 142, 143, 147, 148, 149, 153A, 298, 323, 294, 506, 395, 120B and 34 of the IPC. In the FIR, the youth, Taslim, aka Baddu Singh, states that 5-6 people came up to him while he was selling bangles in the market and asked his name, and after revealing his name, they started beating him up. He states that 10,000 cash and bangles worth 25,000 were stolen from him by the men, who also stole his Aadhaar card and other ID documents. He said that the men abused him based on his religious identity and stones were also pelted at him.

There is also a video of him after the incident where he is seen answering questions about the incident. He states that he was merely selling bangles and suddenly a few men came and grabbed him and asked him his name after which the whole incident took place.

The video may be viewed here:

A case of molestation and forgery/fraud was registered against the victim and he was also booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on the complaint of the Class VI student girl who stated that the man introduced himself as Golu son of Mohar Singh (instead of Tasleem Ali) and molested her while her mother had gone inside the house to get money to pay for the bangles purchased.

Home Minister Narottam Mishra told the press that the victim had two Aadhaar cards with different names and he was presenting himself as a Hindu. “He was using a Hindu name, though he belonged to a different community. He also had two different Aadhaar cards… he was selling bangles which our daughters wear and apply henna during sawan (monsoon)… that’s how the altercation started,” he told the press.

Several opposition politicians, including UP Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi and ex-MP CM Digvijaya Singh condemned the attack.

This incident prompted the regular hate factory news channels to come with taglines like:

 

Indore’s District Collector, meanwhile, said that some banned organisations have been found to be disturbing the communal harmony in Indore after the incident. “We are keeping a close watch on them. They are under surveillance. It has also been found that activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) had come to Indore and instigated the youths for such incidents, a case had been registered against the people who led the protest outside the Central Kotwali police station. Police have been investigating the matter. Some names of PFI and SDPI workers have come fore, a case will be registered against them, too,” he told NDTV.

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