While returning from Delhi after Eid shopping in 2017, four young Muslim boys namely Junaid, his brother Hasim, friends Moin and Mausim were attacked in a third coach of a Mathura bound train. They were allegedly playing Ludo while sitting on the seats when some passengers asked them to vacate the area. They soon started misbehaving and abusing the boys and the four of them decided to get off the train at Faridabad.

They failed in their attempt to get out of the coach because of the rush at the railway station. The mishandling and verbal abuse allegedly continued and matters got worse when one of the assailants took out a knife and stabbed Junaid when he tried to intervene and stop them from attacking his brother and friends.

When the train stopped at Asaoti Railway Station, Junaid was thrown out of the train and was declared dead when he reached the hospital. After Junaid’s death, an FIR was registered the next day by his family members. Here is a timeline to understand the shocking events since then:

There has been no further progress in the case. With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, courts have heard only urgent matters, further delaying the case and exacerbating the family’s pain.

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The post Junaid Khan murder case: A chronology of events surrounding the case appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Indian Express
 
Haryana: It is exactly a year since 15-year-old Hafiz Junaid was stabbed in a Mathura bound train while going back to his home in Ballabhgarh, Haryana.
 
In an earlier report, Firstpost said that while travelling on the Delhi-Mathura passenger train, Junaid had a fight with other passengers over a seat. The fight turned violent as someone claimed that the food packet that the group was carrying had beef in it. People watched and even encouraged the mob who proceeded to repeatedly stab Junaid with a knife, all the while branding him “anti-national.” Junaid was killed while his two brothers, Hashim and Sakir, were injured while the mob hurled slurs against them. They were stabbed and dumped at Asaoti railway station in Palwal district.
 
His family still awaits justice and an anti-lynching law after a year.
 
Just a month after the incident, Chander Prakash, one of the accused in the case was granted bail by the Faridabad court. “Police has done everything wrong… They’re doing this under some political pressure… It’s been a little more than a month and the culprit has been let out on bail. My sons told me he was one of the main culprits,” Jalaluddin, Junaid’s Father had said after the verdict in a report by Quint.
 
According to sources, four out of the six accused were granted bail in a matter of months. All of them had confessed to being a part of the mob that harassed Junaid and his brothers but said they didn’t wield the knife.
 
The Supreme Court stayed the trial in March this year as it sought a response from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Haryana government on a plea seeking the transfer of investigation from the state police to the CBI. “The bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar stayed the trial before the court in Haryana’s Faridabad and sought a response on the transfer of investigation to CBI on a plea by Junaid Khan’s father Jalaluddin. Jalaluddin has moved the top court challenging November 27, 2017, Punjab and Haryana High Court order rejecting his plea for handing over the investigation to CBI. Holding that there was no substance in the plea to indicate that the investigation by the state police was tainted or shoddy, the High Court had said that there appeared no deliberate attempt to derail the investigation. It had declined to exercise its extraordinary powers, saying that the case did not have any national or international ramifications,” the Quint reported.
 
“A year later, sorrow and gloom haven’t left the Khan household. Junaid’s mother Saira has taken to the bed in grief; father Jalaluddin has lost 25 kilos; brother Shakir, who was also attacked by the group, is still unable to lift one arm; and brothers Faisal, Adil, Hashim and Qasim refuse to take the local train in which the 15-year-old was killed,” reported The Indian Express.
 
“We are losing faith in the institutions every day. Barring one accused, everyone else is out on bail. We are scared because my children Shakir and Hashim are key eyewitnesses,” said Jalaluddin. Two police officers have been stationed outside the family’s home since last year. Still, every time a family member steps out of the village, Jalaluddin gets restless. “I’ve told my children and grandchildren to only travel by the Metro, to not talk to anyone or get in a fight. I call them every 30 minutes. I fear that what happened to Junaid will happen again,” he said in the report.
 
The report added that Last November, village sarpanch Nishar Ahmed had approached Junaid’s kin “to agree to an out-of-court settlement with the accused so that the villages can maintain peace and brotherhood.” The family had refused the offer — money and land. On the proposal, Ahmed added in the report, “I only did my job as the sarpanch…there is no pressure on the family to settle.”

#NotInMyName
Junaid’s lynching saw a wave of outcry envelop the country as slogans of #NotInMyName were chanted in many big and small cities and towns. Sabrang India published a report about the protests happening in Delhi, Chandigarh, Gaya, Kolkata, Trivandrum, London, Toronto and more. A report also listed the various protest venues and the series of attacks that culminated into a nationwide protest.

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Shoaib Daniyal/Scroll.in
 

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Photo credit: Indian Express

The Open Letter expresses deep concern at the continuing brutal violence and widespread discrimination targeting minorities as also the wholly lackadaisical response of law enforcement authorities to these attacks. The letter calls upon the Hon’ble Prime Minister and his Government  to give an immediate and clear response on these issues and to take firm action against the perpetrators of such hate crimes by various law enforcement agencies. In conclusion, it urges those who belong to the majority community to stand up, oppose and publicly condemn the communalization of our society and our country.

January 28, 2011

The post Stop Violence and Discrimination against Minorities: Retired Civil Servants’ Open Letter appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The systematic and ongoing targeting of Muslims, including three incidents of lynching in the last week and one killing by a policeman in Jharkhand, triggered a wave of protests in the social media. Flooded with hashtags like #StopKillingMuslims, #BlackEid, #StopLynchingMuslims and #EidWithBlackArmBand, the campaign called upon Muslims to wear black bands on their arms on Eid Day to protest against what looks like an unrelenting ‘Lynch in India’ menace.

Heeding the call, the brothers of 15-year-old Hafiz Junaid who was murdered by a lynch mob in the outskirts of Delhi last Friday and others from his village Khandawli in Faridabad, Haryana wore black bands on Eid. So did a large number of Muslims elsewhere.

Also read: On Eid ul Fitr, a Poem for the Late 15-Year-Old Hafiz Junaid.

The Indian Express reports: "As Muslims across Mewat observed a ‘black Eid’ to protest the violence against their community members, 23-year-old Irshad joined them with a black band on his arm. Irshad is the son of cattle farmer Pehlu Khan, who was lynched by a mob of alleged cow protection vigilantes in April. Almost two months after his father succumbed to his injuries, Irshad is disappointed that some of the accused are still free. Eid festivities in this region, populated by Meo Muslims, were dampened by the memory of that incident. “Tyauhar ki itni khushi nahi hai jitna in baaton ka gham hai (The joy of the festival has been dampened by the sorrow caused by these incidents),” said Irshad.

The proposed protest was backed by top officials from the Darul Uloom, Nadva, All India Muslim Majlis Mushawarat; Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiatul Ulema Hind, Jamiatul Ulema and prominent Muslims, including retired judges and civil servants, from across India.

Now, documentary film-maker and activist Anand Patwardhan has called upon all citizens to wear black badges for “at least a week”. “By itself the black ribbon is just a piece of cloth… [but] it is also a way to awaken the sleeping who think everything is fine”, reads Patwardhan’s message on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Khurshid Alam, a lawyer from Kolkota urges Indian Muslims to go beyond “pointless protests”.

We reproduce below his article first published on Two Circles:

Amidst blaring Bollywood numbers doing a surgical strike through my windows, I am trying to pen down my thoughts on the proposed Black Band Protest against mob-lynching of people in general and Muslims in particular. Agreed, protest is vital to democracy but is there any point in protesting just for the sake of it?

Among those who would be protesting with their black bands on Eid, there will be such anti-socials who extort money from people to decorate the streets with stolen electricity and make the lives of their neighbours hell with loud music for all the three days of Eid and there will also be those good Muslims who choose to remain silent on every social issue of the locality but they will be very content with their Black Band Protest because they believe – “Kuch nahi karne se achcha kam se kam patti lagakar protest zahir to kiya!” (protesting with black bands on arms is better than not doing anything at all).

Quran says, “Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good , enjoining Al-Ma‘roof and forbidding Al-Munkar (all that is bad). And it is they who are the successful.” Our protests lack spirit because we are selective and if not self-centric then at least community-centric or caste-centric or region-centric or ideology-centric. We do not invite to all that is good and neither forbid all that is bad. A life of a Communist or a Sanghi or a Hindu or a Dalit or any human being is as precious as that of a Muslim. In theory, there is no caste system in Islam but in practice there are places where upper caste Muslims don’t hesitate to ruin the lives of low caste Muslims and they cry foul when non-Muslims mistreat them.

Just because some Pratapgarhi or any visionless leader has appealed to Muslims to sport black bands on Eid Day, emotional fools that we are rush to such gimicks. What about the sanctity of Eid? It is human nature to adopt the easy way out. Sporting black band is one of those easy way out. Enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil is obligatory upon all the Ummah, men and women, each according to his or her circumstances.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand [by taking action]; and if he cannot, then with his tongue [by speaking out]; and if he cannot, then with his heart [by feeling that it is wrong] – and that is the weakest of faith.” Why are we satisfied and content with the weakest display of our faith? Let’s not forget that good is the enemy of great. Ghalib has aptly said, “Haq to yeh hai ke haq ada na hua.” (the Truths is that we did not fulfill the rights).

We are in one of the best democracies of the world. Our democracy gives us the options like filing of PILs, complaint to NHRC or SHRCs, representation to the Executives, getting politically conscious of our rights and holding our elected representatives accountable for their breach of duties. Let’s ask ourselves that have we ever tried to change any evil by our actions first or we have limited ourselves to coffee table discussions and black band protests only! In spite of various cases and allegations of corruption in the Judiciary, it is still dispensing justice to the people of India. Why don’t the Muslim organizations include in their long term plans to encourage and support the entry of right minded youth in the Judiciary and Administration of the country? We need much more likes of Zakat Foundation of India.

These pointless protests will not lead us anywhere. The regime which has leased reign of terror will not be moved by our black bands. It has taken them more than 60 years of hardcore preparation to occupy the throne of Delhi and our able leadership should have the vision to prepare such efficient roadmaps to sail us through. In order to follow the teaching of our beloved Prophet to exhibit the highest level of faith, we need to empower ourselves likewise. Black band or No band, Eid Mubarak to all.

Sheikh Khurshid Alam is a Kolkata-based advocate.

This article was first published on Two Circles.

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