West Bengal witnessed three Muslim men losing their lives in separate incidents of mob lynching. According to reports, each of them occurred within a span of just 72 hours. The incidents occurred in South 24 Parganas, Haribhaktapur, and Turuk Meena village. They also followed similar patterns: first the mobs accused them of theft, prompting fatal attacks.
The first incident took place when two men were beaten to death in the village of South Mainna in Navgram late Friday, December 22.
The mob violence was reportedly fuelled by allegations of cow theft, where a crowd turned up and beat two Muslim men to death late on Friday night. However, despite being rushed to Vardhman Medical College Hospital, the two succumbed to their injuries on the following morning. According to Maktoob Media, the District Superintendent of Police Aman Deep has revealed that the assailants who are thought to have entered the village with a cargo vehicle are now being pursued by the police.
Similarly, in West Bengal’s Haribhaktapur, a 45 year old man was lynched because he was reportedly accused to stealing goat on December 23rd. The man, Ruhul Amin Sheikh was a 45-year-old Muslim man who was captured and tied to a tree, and brutally beaten. Following these events, he tragically succumbed to his injuries at Murshidabad Medical College Hospital. Local sources reported that the incident unfolded when three men were allegedly attempting to steal goats. While two suspects managed to run away from the mob, these reports allege that Sheikh was captured and subsequently beaten by the mob. The police finally rescued Sheikh and thereafter he was transferred to the hospital.
According to Maktoob Media, no formal complaint had been filed at the time of reporting. Similarly, The Observer Post has reported that this was the third incident of mob lynching of a Muslim man to happen in the past 72 hours. SDP S K Samuddin had informed The Observer Post that an investigation will be initiated if a complaint is registered.
The report also reveals that the village had seen incidents of thefts for quite a while however the police had not taken any cognisance according to the villagers. Just earlier this month, on December 4, a Muslim man was beaten to death in the state under suspicions of theft, taking the number of mob lynchings of Muslims in December 2023 to four in the state of West Bengal.
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