Six young boys, all of whom happened to be Muslim, students of Std IX at the Five Star English School, were brutally beaten up in Manipur on March 25 as they tried to watch Holi celebrations at the Thabal Chongba Ground on Thabal Chongba( Holi Day), March 25.

Speaking to Sabrangindia, the Director General of Police (DGP), Manipur , L.M. Khaute admitted that such an incident had taken place because ‘local people suspected they had come there for anti-social activities.’  The police have “registered an FIR though no accused have been named, a process that will be completed only after investigations are over,” said the DGP. According to local reports, at about 7:30 pm on the evening of March 25, six young boys, Md. Altaf Hussain, Iqbal Hussain, Shoib Akhter, Shazad Aalam, Thani Alam and Farid Khan were brutally beaten up, allegedly with sharp weapons.

One of the boys Shazad Aalam, who escaped from the scene, informed his brother about the attack. According to the accounts from the victims reported, when the boys tried to approach the Thabal Chongba Ground, they were stopped abruptly and asked where they were going. When they said they had come to watch the Thabal Chongba (Holi celebrations), they were subjected to brutal beating while local people remained silent spectators as nobody came forward to rescue the boys who were left critically injured.

Initially when the attack began, Farid along with Thani tried to save their three accomplices, they were also attacked by the culprits who, it is claimed also wanted to set them on fire.  Fortunately, some responsible persons including a senior member of the local Zilla Parisad tried to reach the spot but the culprits stopped them, allegedly using weapons. However, it was the pradhan of Iramsiphai who later reported the incident to the Wangoi police who rescued the boys.

While the victims who have suffered the assault have named Sanasam Thoi Singh, Mamang Leikai, Sorokhaibam Romen Singh, S.Modhu Singh, Gunamani Singh (Thang saba), the police states that they will name the accused in the FIR only after investigations have been completed.

Initially, reports suggested that the justification for the attack was that the victims had stolen a bike; however it transpired that the bike belonged to Farid Khan. According to the victims, the police have seized the bike from them and have kept it in their custody. Three of the victims are being treating in Rahman hospital in Assam. The perception that the young boys had come ‘for anti social activities’ is being investigated by the police.

Background
Manipur has joined the rest of the country in horrific acts of lynching. Barely five months ago, on November 5, 2015, The Times of India had reported that how a  body of the headmaster was found at Keirao Makating village in Manipur's Imphal East district early on Monday, the police said.Fifty five years old Md Hasmad Ali's body was found five km away from his house. A mob had beaten him to death after he was seen with a calf that was missing from the shed of one of the villagers.

Ali described as a kind hearted teacher lost his life to the lynch mob.

"Ali, a kind-hearted and honest teacher, was killed after being accused of a crime he could not have committed. The police know who his assailants are but are not taking action. We will not take his body from JNIMS for burial until justice is done," Md Rajauddin, convenor of a joint action committee against Ali's killing, had been quoted as saying to the Hindustan Times.

The gory incident had been also commented upon in the international media Naba Kanta, a senior police officer, had then told told the New York Times: "What is happening here is completely wrong – people taking the law into their hands. We face the problem of mob justice in this area, and we are trying to do our best to contain it."

The series of countrywide lynchings have come after te Modi regime’s push to pass laws banning beef in a number of states, causing uproar among other religious groups.

Several cases of violence have come to light involving Hindu mobs targeting people they suspect could be harming cows. One of the most high-profile cases involved the lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri on the outskirts of capital city New Delhi. Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, was beaten to death by a suspected Hindu mob on September 28, 2015 for storing and eating beef. However, a forensic test later revealed that the meat stored in his home was goat meat.

Thereafter, a Muslim man was killed by another suspected Hindu mob who accused him of smuggling cattle for slaughter. The incident took place in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh on October 14, just a few weeks after a Hindu mob threw a home-made bomb at a truck suspected of carrying beef in the Kashmir Valley.

The post Mob Rule in Manipur Yet Again: Six Muslim boys brutally battered appeared first on SabrangIndia.

So it does not quite matter if Mohan Bhagwat, RSS supremo — the man behind the Delhi throne leading the machine of the RSS which is the street army of the present regime – magnanimously as it were declares that ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ should not be coercively elicited. The repeated utterances of members of parliament, ministers and functionaries of the RSS that give sanction to exclusivist ‘nationalisms’ are signal enough for their cadres.

The latest such manifestation was Delhi. An 18-year-old madrasa student’s arm was broken, and two of his classmates injured after a group of young men allegedly assaulted them for not saying ‘Jai Mata Ki’. The Indian Express reports that the Delhi Police on March 30 arrested five persons, all in their 20s, in connection with an alleged assault on three madrasa students in Begumpur. On March 26, an 18-year-old madrasa student’s arm was broken, and two of his classmates injured after a group of young men allegedly assaulted them for not saying ‘Jai Mata Ki’.

According to Dilkash, he and his friends, Ajmal and Naeem, were walking through a park in the area when they were assaulted. “My friends and I had gone to Bans Wala park, some 300 metres from the madrasa, when we were attacked by a group of young men. They spotted us because we were wearing caps and asked us to say Jai Mata Ki,” he told The Indian Express.

Latehar Jharkand

According to Dilkash, one of the assailants hit Ajmal after they “refused to chant Jai Mata Ki. “When I intervened, they started beating me as well,” said Dilkash, adding that Naeem was also roughed up. Dilkash, Ajmal and Naeem are from Bihar’s Purnia district and came to Delhi last year to study at the Faiz-ul-uloom Ghausia madrasa in Ramesh Enclave’s Mohammadi Masjid. The trio said they managed to escape after a few minutes and flee towards the madrasa. “All are in their early 20s and are the residents of the same area,” SCP Vikramjit Singh is reported to have said.

Meanwhile, while many reports in the media reported Bhagwat’s statement as interpreted to mean that there should  be no coercion on the utterance of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, another report in the Hindi media suggested that Bhagwat has visions of the whole world uttering, reverentially the slogan, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ “Puri Duniyase ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ Bulwana Chahte hai Sangh Pramukh Mohan Bhagwat” The report dated March 27 says that, “आरएसएस के प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने रविवार (27 मार्च) को कहा कि संगठन चाहता है कि देश शोषण मुक्त और आत्म सम्मान से पूर्ण बने और पूरी दुनिया भारत को सलाम करे।

फ्रेंड्स ऑफ ट्रायबल सोसायटी के सह संस्थापक दिवंगत मदन लाल अग्रवाल के जीवन पर लिखी गई एक किताब के विमोचन के अवसर पर भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘हम चाहते हैं कि पूरी दुनिया ‘भारत माता की जय’ बोले। हम भारत को समृद्ध, शोषण से मुक्त और आत्मसम्मान से भरपूर बनाना चाहते हैं। इसके लिए हमें अपनी जिंदगी में भारत को जीना होगा।’’

राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के प्रमुख ने कहा कि बंटवारे के बाद पाकिस्तान ने ‘भारत’ के नाम पर दावा नहीं किया क्योंकि वह उन गुणों को स्वीकार नहीं कर सकता जो भारत में है। उन्होंने कहा कि वेद, ‘देव भाषा’, ‘आदि भाषा’ और संस्कृत व्याकरण की रचना भी पाकिस्तान के क्षेत्र में हुई।

भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘लेकिन उन्होंने (पाकिस्तान) अपना नाम अपनाया और ‘भारत’ नाम को छोड़ दिया क्योंकि वे वो गुण स्वीकार नहीं कर सकते जो भारत में हैं।’’ रामायण का जिक्र करते हुए भागवत ने कहा, ‘‘हम कहते हैं कि यह काफी प्राचीन है लेकिन यह इतिहास है।’’
हल्के फुल्के अंदाज में भागवत ने कहा कि वह भाग्यशाली हैं कि आरएसएस का नेतृत्व कर रहे हैं। उन्होंने कहा, ‘‘मुझे नहीं मालूम कि चुनाव होने पर क्या होगा। लेकिन यहां नियुक्ति हुई है। मैं भाग्यशाली हूं।’’

Which report may we hold the Sangh to? Or should we, as citizens owing allegiance to the Indian Constitution also ask, who the Sangh is –the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to actually dictate or not what should be the guiding principles by whicht this country and its people function?

References:
1. 18-year-old Madrasa student’s arm broken for not saying “Jai Mata Ki”

2, Boy beaten up over refusal to chant slogan in Delhi  

The post The Rule of the Mob: Now Delhi, Earlier Jharkand and Uttar Pradesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

UPDATE: March 22, 2016

A prominent Hindu seer associated with a cow protection vigilante group is accused of fomenting hatred against cattle traders and directing his followers to target and kill them in Jharkhand’s communally sensitive Latehar district that saw two cattle traders murdered on
Friday.

Family members of the victims, Muslim villagers, political leaders and rights activists of Latehar on Monday unanimously held Acharya Gopal Maniji Maharaj, a katha vachak (preacher) of the Bharatiya Gau Kranti Manch, responsible for the gruesome killing of Mazlum Ansari, 32, and Imteyaz Khan, 13.The Hindustan Times  reported that Latehar police have arrested five suspects, including a member of a local cow protection vigilante group, for the murders. Police superintendent Anup Birtharay declared it a criminal incident aimed at looting cash and cattle. But ruling parties are crying foul over the police probe.. “We have concrete information that a few Bajrang Dal activists from Balumath block had recently gone to Delhi to meet the seer,” said Madan Pal, member of a prominent human rights group Jharkhand Jansangram Morcha. He alleged the activists returned on February 28 and carried out the killings.

“The seer in his religious sermons at Latehar used to be highly vocal against cattle trade and cow slaughter. Post his sermons, his followers would paint walls exhorting people to hang beef-eaters,” said Ramchander Singh, ex-RJD legislator from Manika.Sanjeev Kumar Sinha, state member of Gau Kranti Manch, declined the allegations as baseless. “Politicians are hell bent in giving political colour to the cattle traders’ murders. We are confident that the law will bring the facts to fore,” he said.

Meanwhile The Times of India  has reported that several individuals and community organisations of the majority Hindu community have decided not to celebrate Holi because of gloom over the lynching of the two Muslim traders. Instead, the peace vigilantes will take out a march without using gulal or colours. The family of the victims have welcomed this sensitive decision.
 
References:

1. Hindu seer accused of directing followers to target cow traders  http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
2. No Holi in Latehar village after cattle traders' lynching; http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=No-Holi-in-Latehar-village-after-cattle-traders-22032016013023

UPDATE: March 20, 1.03 p.m.

Reuters reported around midnight on March 19 that the police have arrested five suspects in the hanging to death of two Muslims herding cattle in India, in an incident that led to violent protests in the eastern state of Jharkhand amid reports the attackers were Hindu vigilantes. 

"Police have arrested five persons and are looking for others involved in the incident," Latehar police chief Anoop Birtharay said by telephone.

"So far we have not found any affiliation of these persons with any Hindu radical group. We are still examining," he said.

Opponents have accused Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of seeking to stoke religious tensions in order to polarise voters ahead of crucial state assembly elections in five states in next two months.

EARLIER REPORT

In an incident shockingly reminiscent of the Dadri lynching, a 12-year-old Muslim boy and a Muslim man herding eight buffaloes on their way to a Friday market were beaten up and hanged to death from a tree by suspected cattle-protection vigilantes. The initial report and photographers were pasted on facebook by Ashif Nawaz. The double murders  of the two Muslims [Mazlum Ansari, 32, and Imteyaz Khan] took place in Balumath, Latehar district of Jharkhand yesterday.

Reportedly, these young men were cattle traders and were on their way to a market when they were killed. The incident happened within 100 kms of the state capital of Ranchi and is closely reminiscent of the Dadri lynching in early September 2015. It is reported that it is not the first time that Muslim cattle traders in the area have been targeted. Despite several by the local people, the police and the BJP state government have failed in protecting the minorities engaged in this trade.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued a statement condemning the incident. This horrible incident is a result of the sustained communal campaign conducted by the Hindutva outfits, the statement says. It demanded that the Jharkhand police must immediately arrest the culprits and bring them to book. The BJP government in Jharkhand is duty bound to crack down against all those indulging in such criminal activities and also ensure protection of the minorities, the statement added.

The Times of India reports that, "The manner of their hanging showed that the assailants were led by extreme hatred," said Latehar SP Anoop Birthary. Local MLA from the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), Prakash Ram claimed that Hindu radicals were behind the killings. Reports said villagers who protested the deaths claimed the victims were targeted as they were cattle traders. Birthary, however, did not identify the assailants. "We are gathering leads to verify whether personal or business enmity led to the murder or it was due to some other motive. The buffaloes were freed. It is yet to be known if the buffaloes were taken away by the assailants or they strayed into the forest," Birthary said.

The hanging sparked protests by people in Jhabbar village that turned violent when police tried to take down the bodies. The situation poses a serious political and law and order challenge for the BJP government in Jharkhand. In the case of Dadri case when a Muslim man was killed over rumours of beef eating, BJP had said law and order was under the SP government.

But in the Jharkhand incident, the buck stops with the state and central leadership. SDO Kamleshwar Narayan and six cops were injured when villagers threw stones at officials who arrived in the morning to manage the situation and ensure that it did not take a communal turn. Injuries to senior officials forced police to fire in the air and lathi charge the villagers.

Sources said protesting villagers have periodically claimed that assailants have targeted them in the past because they are engaged in cattle trade. "Four months ago, a group of men tried to kill a cattle trader in Gomia village of Balumath. The man managed to escape," Latehar MLA Prakash Ram said.

Local MLA Prakash Ram from the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) party led by former BJP member Babulal Marandi alleged a group of Hindu radicals was responsible for the attack on the cattle traders. "They are supported by the police who do not act against them," Ram said.

The MLA's claims appeared to tally with statements of villagers who blocked Latehar-Chatra National Highway after the killings. An FIR was lodged against unknown persons for the murder and another FIR was lodged against unknown persons.

The post Hindu seer accused of inciting followers to target cow traders in Latehar Jharkand appeared first on SabrangIndia.

UPDATE: March 20, 1.03 p.m.

Reuters reported around midnight on March 19 that the police have arrested five suspects in the hanging to death of two Muslims herding cattle in India, in an incident that led to violent protests in the eastern state of Jharkhand amid reports the attackers were Hindu vigilantes. 

"Police have arrested five persons and are looking for others involved in the incident," Latehar police chief Anoop Birtharay said by telephone.

"So far we have not found any affiliation of these persons with any Hindu radical group. We are still examining," he said.

Opponents have accused Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of seeking to stoke religious tensions in order to polarise voters ahead of crucial state assembly elections in five states in next two months.

EARLIER REPORT

In an incident shockingly reminiscent of the Dadri lynching, a 12-year-old Muslim boy and a Muslim man herding eight buffaloes on their way to a Friday market were beaten up and hanged to death from a tree by suspected cattle-protection vigilantes. The initial report and photographers were pasted on facebook by Ashif Nawaz. The double murders  of the two Muslims [Mazlum Ansari, 32, and Imteyaz Khan] took place in Balumath, Latehar district of Jharkhand yesterday.

Reportedly, these young men were cattle traders and were on their way to a market when they were killed. The incident happened within 100 kms of the state capital of Ranchi and is closely reminiscent of the Dadri lynching in early September 2015. It is reported that it is not the first time that Muslim cattle traders in the area have been targeted. Despite several by the local people, the police and the BJP state government have failed in protecting the minorities engaged in this trade.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued a statement condemning the incident. This horrible incident is a result of the sustained communal campaign conducted by the Hindutva outfits, the statement says. It demanded that the Jharkhand police must immediately arrest the culprits and bring them to book. The BJP government in Jharkhand is duty bound to crack down against all those indulging in such criminal activities and also ensure protection of the minorities, the statement added.

The Times of India reports that, "The manner of their hanging showed that the assailants were led by extreme hatred," said Latehar SP Anoop Birthary. Local MLA from the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), Prakash Ram claimed that Hindu radicals were behind the killings. Reports said villagers who protested the deaths claimed the victims were targeted as they were cattle traders. Birthary, however, did not identify the assailants. "We are gathering leads to verify whether personal or business enmity led to the murder or it was due to some other motive. The buffaloes were freed. It is yet to be known if the buffaloes were taken away by the assailants or they strayed into the forest," Birthary said.

The hanging sparked protests by people in Jhabbar village that turned violent when police tried to take down the bodies. The situation poses a serious political and law and order challenge for the BJP government in Jharkhand. In the case of Dadri case when a Muslim man was killed over rumours of beef eating, BJP had said law and order was under the SP government.

But in the Jharkhand incident, the buck stops with the state and central leadership. SDO Kamleshwar Narayan and six cops were injured when villagers threw stones at officials who arrived in the morning to manage the situation and ensure that it did not take a communal turn. Injuries to senior officials forced police to fire in the air and lathi charge the villagers.

Sources said protesting villagers have periodically claimed that assailants have targeted them in the past because they are engaged in cattle trade. "Four months ago, a group of men tried to kill a cattle trader in Gomia village of Balumath. The man managed to escape," Latehar MLA Prakash Ram said.

Local MLA Prakash Ram from the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) party led by former BJP member Babulal Marandi alleged a group of Hindu radicals was responsible for the attack on the cattle traders. "They are supported by the police who do not act against them," Ram said.

The MLA's claims appeared to tally with statements of villagers who blocked Latehar-Chatra National Highway after the killings. An FIR was lodged against unknown persons for the murder and another FIR was lodged against unknown persons.

The post 2 Muslim Cattle Traders Attacked and Hung in Jharkand appeared first on SabrangIndia.