Muslim dairy owner, Ansari, beaten up, and is now believed to be dead after his house set on fire in Jharkhand on suspicion of cow slaughter. The incident is the latest in a string of attacks, largely against Muslim and Dalits, reported from across the country in the name of cow protection.
The Indian Express and the Hindustan Times had reported the attack but the latest news coming in to Sabrangindia is that though 'he was supposed to have been removed to a safer location', he is in fact no more. The police claimed that 30 police personnel were injured as a frenzied crowd of around 1,000, including some self-appointed cow protectors, laid siege to 55-year-old Usman Ansari’s house in Giridih district’s Bariabad on Tuesday afternoon. According to the police version, Usman Ansari at Beria Hatiatand village in Deori area, nearly 200 km from Ranchi, was brutally attacked on Tuesday, June 27 after some people spotted the carcass of a cow.
But Tanveer Ahmed, senior activist from Ranchi told Sabrangindia that the victim Usman Ansari is feared dead though the police claims he has been moved to a 'safe location.' ADG (Operations) RK Mullick told the Indian Express that “The mob was highly charged and nearly 50 of our men sustained injuries in the stone-pelting. The situation has been brought under control,” Over 200 security personnel, including senior officers, have been deployed at the spot.
The incident is the latest in a string of attacks, extremely vicious largely against Muslim and Dalits, reported from across the country in the name of cow protection.
Junaid, a Haryana teenager was lynched allegedly by his co-passengers in a train on June 22 after an argument. The crowd allegedly called him and his two brothers, who were injured, as beef-eaters.The Centre has restricted cattle trade and several BJP-ruled states have come up with stringent punishment for smuggling or slaughtering cows, considered holy by Hindus.
The opposition and right activists have accused the BJP of pursuing the Hindutva agenda of its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh and targeting Muslims and Dalits through its cattle-trade rules.
Jharkand has seen a spate of brutal killings, lynchings since March 2016 when Mazlum Ansari and his nephew Imtiyaz were lynched and hung to die. Thereafter too there have been a series of attacks, assaults and killings. The last one was last friday after the Alvida Namaz on the Friday before Eid, on June 23 when 24 year old Mohammad Salman was allegedly shot dead by a posse of policeman. One arms guard is even under arrest after confessing to the crime. The National Commission of Minorities (NCM) even brought out a report on the deep rooted communal polarisation in Jharkand, even within the police force after the Latehar hangings.
In early April 2017, a Maulvi was brutally assaulted at Kodarma and thereafter in May 2017 rumours of child lifting had left many Muslims and some Hindus dead.
