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Serial hate crimes against Muslims spiral, first MP, now Rajasthan

Days after a brute attack on a Muslim bangle seller in Madhya Pradesh (MP)’s Indore city, a family of destitute Muslims was assaulted in Ajmer

AjmerImage Courtesy:flipboard.com

It has been barely a day since the brute mob attack on a Muslim bangle seller in Indore, Madhya Pradesh that a family of destitute Muslims, seeking alms, was beaten by identified persons in a residential colony in Ajmer in Rajasthan. While assaulting the family, the criminals kept shouting at them to “go to Pakistan”.  Ajmer is a much valued pilgrimage destination.

Again it was social media that “helped” a video clip of the violent attack go viral. The video showed a man kicking and hitting members of the family while verbally abusing them around their religious identity. “This is not the place for you. Go to Pakistan. You will get alms only there,” an assailant is heard telling the victims in the video footage. The incident has generated condemnation and outrage all over the western Indian state ruled presently by the Indian National Congress.

From what information is available and as reported by The Hindu, the group of youths, who first caught hold of the destitute persons, were “provoked” by their entry into a “Hindu dominated” part of the city. One of the assailants can be seen kicking a young boy on his head as he cowered in fear on the street. The family of victims shown in the video, including a woman, are yet to be identified.

The Rajasthan police have arrested five persons arrested after their identification in the video. Predictably, however they have been immediately released on bail by the court, as they were charged under less serious provisions of the law, section 151 of CrPC. Arguably given the gravity of the physical assault, section 30, that is attempt to murder may have been applicable in this case.  Following the demand raised by Ajmer city’s Muslim community, the police on Tuesday registered a case under the provisions of Indian Penal Code and launched investigation.

The local Muslim community has strongly protested, not just the assault, but also the lacklustre handling of the criminal charges that allowed the perpetrators to get bail. From the information available, it appears that the victim family belongs to Uttar Pradesh. More stringent provisions of the law were registered after representatives of the community petitioned the higher echelons of the police on the criminal assault.

Just three days ago, a horrific incident had been 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. Unfortunately such incidents instead of inviting universal condemnation have actually prompted xenophobic reportage by some television channels.

On August 17, in Baghpat’s Ranchad village a Muslim man trying to hoist the national tricolour was assaulted. Sabrangindia had listed the number of hate crimes against India’s Muslims in the month of August. On August 12, a Muslim man had been assaulted in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. His assaulters who had chanted, Jai Sri Ram, while beating him were again promptly released on bail!

The manner in which hate has been maliciously whipped against the Muslim minority in India especially by sections of the media amplified by the troll army patronised by the ruling party and allied groups is/was summed up on this twitter thread below.

 

 

 

Related:

Kanpur: Three men arrested on Thursday for assaulting Muslim man, get bail on Friday
A pyramid of hate being built to score a poll win in UP?
Anti-Muslim hate speech at Delhi rally calls for communal violence

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