Hindutva mob | SabrangIndia

West Bengal: Muslim mason allegedly lynched by Hindutva mob

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 13:59:06 +0000

Image Courtesy: gaurilankeshnews.com

A closer look at the photo of a young man lying dead reveals horrific details of what his last moments would have been like. There is sand on his shirt, as if it spilled out from his mouth as he struggled to take a breath.

According to social media handles, the man is a victim of a communal hate attack. He was identified as Sekh Poltu, 32, a Muslim mason, from Midnapur, West Bengal. He was reportedly attacked on March 16, allegedly by a Hindutva mob, that then stuffed sand down his throat and beat him up ruthlessly. The victim succumbed.

Freelance journalist SA Rahman shared on Twitter that an Indian Army soldier on leave, allegedly led the lynch mob that attacked Poltu. It has not been confirmed by authorities if the soldier has been arrested yet.

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UP: Muslim driver brutally thrashed by Hindutva mob in Mathura

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 12:02:32 +0000

Shocking videos of a Muslim man stripped of his shirt and being hit with belts by a mob have once again reminded social media of the hate prevailing in Uttar Pradesh. The man, a driver, was being beaten because the accused suspected him of “carrying beef” or “smuggling cattle” in his vehicle. The self-appointed mob of “cow vigilantes” attacked the hapless driver in Raal village of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The victim was identified as Mohammad Aamir, a driver of a pick-up van.

According to news reports, police have booked 16 identified people, including Vikash Sharma and Balram Thakur who are reportedly members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Three Men mercilessly thrashed on the suspension of smuggling cattle by #Cow vigilantes in #Mathura’s Raal village of UP. The victim (video) identified as a driver of a pick-up van, Mohammad Aamir. 16 identified people, including Vikash Sharma and Balram Thakur from VHP booked. + pic.twitter.com/k4bogNeNKm

— Akhlad khan (@BawaNaaved) March 21, 2022

थाना जैत पुलिस द्वारा किया गया सराहनीय कार्य।
दिनांक 20/03/2022 को ग्राम राल में हुयी घटित मारपीट की घटना में वांछित 04 अभियुक्तगण को किया गिरफ्तार । pic.twitter.com/H1CsIJKTHM

— MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) March 22, 2022

According to a report in The Times of India, the Muslim driver was attacked on Sunday night in Mathura by the mob. The attackers had appointed themselves vigilantes and decided to attack the driver as they “suspected” that he was carrying beef and smuggling cows in his vehicle. Aamir, was cornered and thrashed in what looks like a shed or room even though he begs to be spared with folded hands.

According to the police, the victim was merely transporting carcasses during a cleanliness drive of Nagar Panchayat Govardhan area of the district. Martand Prakash Singh, superintendent of police, Mathura issued a public statement that once Rameshwar Valmiki, a resident of the Govardhan area in Mathura, who has been licensed by the district panchayat to dispose of animal carcasses “sent the vehicle from Mathura to a nearby district… Our initial inquiry has not found any cows or beef inside the vehicle.”

थाना जैत क्षेत्रान्तर्गत कस्बा राल में घटित घटना के सम्बन्ध में अपर पुलिस अधीक्षक नगर, मथुरा द्वारा दी गई बाइट। pic.twitter.com/IRz16HRFY9

— MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) March 21, 2022

Police told the media that two first information reports were filed, one based on the complaint filed by the victim Aamir, and the second by Vikas Sharma, who claims to be the “convenor of Gau Raksha Vibhag of Hindutva outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad” reported TOI.

Sharma and his VHP associate one Balram Thakur, alleged that they “were beaten up by the villagers when they reached the spot and were asking about the incident,” according to news reports. They were reportedly attacked because “the villagers mistook both of them to be Aamir’s associates,” added the news report. These two are among the 16 booked by the police under Sections 147 (rioting), 307 (attempt to murder), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of the peace), among others of the Indian Penal Code based on Aamir’s complaint.

According to TOI, the police also acted on Sharma’s complaint accusing villagers of attacking him, and “14 identified people and 150 unidentified ones were booked” under relevant IPC sections. According to police said the Muslim man has been admitted to the hospital for treatment, and four accused were arrested on March 21.

थाना जैत पुलिस द्वारा किया गया सराहनीय कार्य।
दिनांक 20/03/2022 को ग्राम राल में हुयी घटित मारपीट की घटना में वांछित 04 अभियुक्तगण को किया गिरफ्तार । pic.twitter.com/H1CsIJKTHM

— MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) March 22, 2022

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Jharkhand: CM orders probe into attack on Muslim man by BJP supporters

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 06:07:38 +0000

Image Courtesy:telegraphindia.com

“Spit and lick it. Say jai shree ram… we are Hindus,” demands the angry hindutva mob, including a woman in Dhanbad. The vidoes of the terrified Muslim man being beaten and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” went viral on Friday. The attack was allegedly by a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers who were ‘protesting’ the alleged breach in the Prime Minister’s security in Punjab recently. They found an easy victim in the Muslim man, then proceeded to surround him and beat him up brutally on Friday near city centre in Dhanbad.

The man was beaten allegedly for abusing party leaders, reported Hindustan Times. The victim has been identified as Zeeshan Khan, resident of Shamsher Nagar in Wasseypur in Dhanbad. According to a report in Hindustan Times, his younger brother Rehan Khan said that Zeeshan was mentally unstable and is under treatment at Central Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi. “Only three of us live in our home. Both me and my mother have private jobs. We were out when my brother left home. He has returned home after the incident. Though we are yet to decide on lodging a formal complaint, but they should not have done what they did. Even if he abused them, they could have handed him over to police,” Rehan was quoted in HT.

Chief minister Hemant Soren has directed Dhanbad deputy commissioner to conduct a probe and take action. The videos show how the mob is keen to be filmed while assaulting an innocent man and force him to do sit-ups, lick spit on the road. The victim can be heard pleading and repeatedly saying he was a Muslim. “Dhanbad DC should probe the incident and revert with the action taken report. There is no space for animosity in the state where people love to live in peace,” the CM said.

.@dc_dhanbad कृपया उक्त मामले की जाँच कर दोषियों पर सख्त कार्यवाई करते हुए सूचित करें।
अमन चैन से रहने वाले झारखण्डवासियों के इस राज्य में वैमनस्य की कोई जगह नहीं है।@dhanbadpolice @JharkhandPolice https://t.co/XXZFcu9mNo

— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) January 7, 2022

According to BJP legislator from Dhanbad, Raj Sinha, who was also present at the protest, “This man came in front of us and started abusing our state president taking his name. We asked him to leave. I don’t know what exactly happened with him after the party workers pushed him away from where we were sitting. However, it needs to be probed whether this entire thing was a conspiracy. Otherwise why would anyone just come and start abusing us.”

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Uttar Pradesh: Who are these Hindutva mobs prowling the streets, targeting minorities?

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 10:35:53 +0000

Representation Image | Hindustan Time

Sister Gracy Monteiro, a school principal, who belongs to the Mirpur Catholic Mission, her colleague Sister Roshni Minj, and their driver were attacked by a right-wing vigilante mob while boarding a bus to Varanasi. The mob dragged them to the police station after beating them up and abusing them.

The mob was reportedly a part of Hindutva groups such as the Hindu Yuva Vahini which have been gaining more ‘confidence’ that they are above the law in Uttar Pradesh and have begun prowling the streets as if looking for minority community members to victimise. On Sunday the group was prowling the streets of Mau, Uttar Pradesh, rounding up a group of Chritstians, accusing them of conversion and handing them over to the police. Members of the group remain behind bars two days later.

Then a smaller group, allegedly of the same mob, spotted the nuns’ vehicle and attacked them at the town’s bus station. These could have been dismissed as bizarre fake news if not for eyewitness accounts. Sister Grace Monteiro, who survived the attack, and the day at the police station, spoke in detail to SabrangIndia on the horror she witnessed and experienced on the streets of Mau.

She, a Ursuline Franciscan nun, had come to the city bus stand around noon, with her colleague Sister Minj, and school driver (name withheld to protect identity) when a mob of Hindutva radicals, dragged them out, roughed up the driver and forcibly took the three to the police station where there were kept till 6 p.m. Sister Monetrio says she kept asking the mobs who they were, and kept trying to prevent them from hitting the driver, a non-Christian, even as the mob continued abusing and attacking and accusing the three of religious conversion. The driver who has worked in the school for a long time, has not converted to Chritianity, and now was harassed and victimised for merely being with the sisters. At the police station they were held without reason and later released, recalled Sr Monterio, only once she managed to contact the relevant authorities.

“There were just the three of us. I was accompanying Sister Minj who was going home to Ranchi to visit her dying father. As we did not get the direct bus, we went to the Mau bus stand and Sr Minj went to ask about the bus, while the driver and I stayed in the car. Then a mob came and attacked the driver dragged him out, forced is nuns to walk to the police station,” she recalled, adding that they were perhaps identified as Chrtians because they were in the nun’s uniform of cream-coloured salwar kameez and the convent’s name was painted on the side of their Bolero.

“They said get out of the car, I asked them why. They started hitting our driver, and I told them not to hit us as I was going to answer whatever questions they had. They told us to ‘get out of the car and we will show you who we are’,” she recalled the mob took out the vehicle’s key and made them walk to the police station. It was more shocking for her that no policeman intervened when the mob attacked.

“We were in shock, this was sudden and unprovoked. Sister Minj was already under stress as her father is critical. I demanded that a policewoman come and we will not come with them. Even the police asked us ‘are you converting’.” It was hours later, that an inspector showed up and spoke to them, “We showed him all our proof. Even the photo of Sr Minj’s critically ill father. Then the inspector said it was by mistake that we were picked up.” However, while there were no apologies, the nuns say it was the most traumatic experience, and they demand an explanation.

Sister Minj, has just managed to reach her hometown to see her dying father, and Sister Gracy says she is still in shock but will file a complaint with the authorities soon. “Who were the two attackers. They have no right to attack us. I am against mobs, we have to complain. They have no right to attack. Who gave them the authority to ask her ‘who are you, where did you come from?’” she asked adding “We are also human beings, no? I objected to them berating my driver, they kept holding his collar. What kind of security, protection do we have? I do not have any safety to go out alone. Now we have to be careful.”

She said that while she was in stress at the moment, but, there was no fear. She said, “We are citizens of india. We are not doing something wrong. We have a lot of work. The entire day was wasted in the police station. Sister Minj lost money as her ticket was wasted. She had to travel the next day. I had identified the attackers to the lady police, but the cop asked me for the photo. But the police had put us in a room by then and that man who attacked was not seen again”. She says she will soon lodge a complaint with the relevant authorities and demand answers.

Why were the vigilantes on the streets?

On Sunday October 10 a regular prayer service was attacked by a Hinduva mob some of whom claimed to be activists of Bajrang Dal as well as Hindu Yuva Vahini. The group then forced the Christian worshipers, including the priest to the police station. According to reports, the Hindutva mob was accusing the group of ‘converting’ people. However, the devotees including one Vijendra Rajbhar, who spoke on video said they had been praying here regularly. According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by one Radheshyam Singh the worshipers have been accused of forcing people to convert to Christianity through allurements, as well as “violating Covid-19 protocol, using musical instruments, consuming narcotics and other intoxicants.”

Those arrested included Pastor Abraham Shakeel Ahmed, his wife Pratibha, Vijendra Rajbhar and Geeta Devi, the couple in whose house the worship took place. Rajbhar was then questioned on camera by ‘youtube journalists’, and he kept answering their leading questions and maintained that no forcible conversions were taking place and that the worship in his house had been a regular one. Even the pastor is heard saying in a video clip that anyone can attend the worship without discrimation and that they pray for those who are unwell or need any kind of support and prayer. The First Information Report alleges that the pastor and others “insulted Hindu deities using abusive language,” reported MattersIndia, adding that the devotees also abused the prime minister and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.”

Family says, @maupolice didn’t present the arrested Pastor Abraham&6 others(FIR no.410/2021)before the Magistrate’s court yesterday. They do not know their whereabouts since Mau Kotwali police arrested them. Kindly look into the matter urgently @Uppolice @dgpup @PMOIndia @UN_HRC

— अधिवक्ता? (@advocate_tee) October 12, 2021

According to local Christians those from the independent churches are the ones most easily targeted as vigilante mobs barge into house churches, and disrupt prayers, beating up the ones leading the prayers. Some pastors, who themselves often hail from poor families, often then go into hiding and some even stop preaching. There is a rise in some ‘media houses’ such as Hindi Net News, which often work as a ‘media wing of the vigilante groups. They often accompany the mobs and then ask questions which are accusations in themselves. The narrations in Hindi often stated, “People who were converting others in a house in Mau today were arrested by the police, after locals objected to such activities, police reached the spot and arrested the pastor, the owner of the house and started investigation.” They add to the mobs allegations such as “many gather and worship here.”

SabrangIndia contacted the office of SP Mau Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan that declined to comment but confirmed that the accused were still in jail. Calls to the case’s investigating officer Inspector DK Srivastava went unanswered.

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Gujarat: Mob brutally attacks two teenage Madrasa students on a busy road

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 05:29:50 +0000

Image Courtesy:siasat.com

A minor vehicle related incident took a dangerously violent turn, when two teenagers, both students of an Islamic school or Madrasa, were brutally assaulted by a mob. The boys were seriously injured after the attack, allegedly by a Hindutva mob, in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The attack took place on Sunday night but details emerged only on Monday. The victims have been identified as Umar (17) and Khizar (16). They were hospitalised due to severe injuries. Images circulating on social media showed the two teens heavily bandaged indicating the severity of their injuries. According to a report in Maktoobmedia, Umar may need to undergo two surgeries to repair the massive injuries on his hand. The two teenagers were reportedly abused, kicked and thrashed by the right-wing mob even as a large crowd watched.

Umar’s father Mufti Abdul Qayyum told the Maktoobmedia that the two boys were attacked merely because “they were wearing kurta pajama and a skullcap,” that identified them as Muslim. “They thrashed them so brutally. Umar is still unconscious and Khizar is unable to talk due to the trauma” said the father, adding that Umar’s hand was twisted while he was “repeatedly attacked on his head”. Khizar has severe injuries on both hands.

The teenagers were reportedly just returning home on their scooter, from their classes at a Madrasa, when they were attacked. Social activist Salim Hafezi told the media that the attack happened when they were on their way home in Paldi. He said, “On Vishwakunj Char road, a man named Bhavesh with his wife and daughter were on an Activa scooter. He took a turn without an indicator, due to which the scooter on which the two children were riding lost balance, and they fell. Bhavesh’s wife started beating both the children and created a ruckus due to which a crowd gathered at the site and seeing their Muslim identity, the mob started beating them so mercilessly that both the children got fractures on their wrists,” Hafezi was quoted by Maktoob as saying.

It was after the police arrived that the boys were rushed to hospital and based on the family’s complaint an FIR was registered under section 154 IPC 323, 294 B, 427 in Paldi police station. Police have assured the family that “CCTV camera footage will be checked, and arrests will be made on the basis of identity.”

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