Page 47 - English Tehelka Issue 1&2

islamophobia

Let it be clear, Muslims had succumbed to injuries. On May gaining currency in Kerala. Hadiya ist and former bureaucrat Harsh

2, 65-year-old Ghulam Mohammed
Mander said, “We have a political
herself had denied the allegations,
was beaten to death in Bulandshahr, accusing her parents of wrong -
leadership now in the country that
will lynch fear this year Uttar Pradesh, after a Muslim man ful separation from her husband. has created an environment which
and a Hindu woman reportedly
Hadiya, a homeopathy student, has
is permissive of acting out hate
returned to college and been freed
speeches and hate actions. Lynching
eloped from the village. The attack-
from her parents’ ‘captivity.’ Her
of this kind is a growing phenom-
ers were allegedly members of the
Hindu Yuva Vahini, a Hindu nation-
Muslims also felt cornered on the
Jahan. The questions surrounding
alist group which runs a campaign college has allowed her to meet enon in many parts of the country.”
against ‘love jihad’ — an alleged con- the legality and status of their mar- political front. Muslims in Gujarat,
While the community witnessed organised and unorganised attacks the mob justice under control. “Kill- spiracy by Muslim men to seduce riage remain shrouded by clouds of for example, make up nine percent
from right wingers throughout 2017, the New Year brings in fresh hope ing people in the name of Gau Bhakti Hindu women and convert them to confusion. of the state’s total population. But
On December 6, Mohammad
to work collectively with secular forces to restore peace and is not acceptable,” Prime Minister Islam. Afrazul, a labourer, was mercilessly when the state went to Assembly
election in December, the Congress
Modi had said on June 29. However,
Even judiciary was not com -
amity, writes abdul wasey his words seem to have fallen on deaf pletely aloof. On May 24, Kerala killed in what can be called one of had fielded six Muslims candidates,
ears, as a man was beaten to death in High Court ruled the marriage India’s most gruesome hate crimes while the BJP didn’t bother at all.
n the New Year’s Eve, a stabbed and killed by a mob while Jharkhand on the same day on suspi- between Akhila Ashokan (alias in Rajsamand, Rajasthan. After kill- Interestingly, of 182 Assembly con-
group was partying near travelling from Delhi to Ballabgarh, cion that he was carrying beef in his Hadiya) and Shafeen Jahan ‘null ing him, Afrazul’s assailant Shamb- stituencies in Gujarat, 20 have an
a Muslim graveyard in Haryana, by train. The protests that vehicle. In July, a Muslim dairy owner and void’, condemning it as love hulal Regar circulated on social electorally influencing Muslim pop-
Mandar, a town close resulted coalesced in a movement was killed by a mob of over 1,000, after jihad. Jahan moved the Supreme media a video in which he hacks ulation with over 20 per cent voters
O to Jharkhand’s capital inspired by a Facebook post by docu- a carcass was found near his home. • peace in Court against the ‘arbitrary an - Afrazul to death with a cleaver, and from the community. But the recent
Ranchi. Waseem Ansari and two of mentary film-maker Saba Dewan, Cow vigilantes also struck in Novem- pieces India is nulment’ of his marriage to Had- then sets him on fire. This was fol- Gujarat election looked different
his friends approached the group and who suggested that “citizens repulsed ber, when a man was shot dead in fourth worst iya and her confinement in her lowed by Regar’s incendiary speech from previous ones as none of the
told them to stop playing loud music by the violence” meet at Jantar Man- Rajasthan. in the world parents’ home. Following this, wherein he justified the act, claim- parties had directly talked about
near the burial area. This led to an tar in Delhi. #NotInMyName began According to the latest Human in terms of the Supreme Court ordered a ing that he was saving a ‘Hindu Muslims or minorities as a distinct
argument. The group, according to trending as several cities organized Rights Watch World Report, limita- religious intol- National Investigation Agency (NIA) sister,’ and warned Muslims saying, voting unit. Even Rahul Gandhi,
the local police, attacked the 19-year- tions on free speech and violence erance, says a probe into the matter. The NIA said “This is what will happen to you if who visited over half-a-dozen tem-
old daily wage labourer and beat him against religious minorities, led by latest global that it was not an ‘isolated inci - you do ‘love jihad’ in our country.” ples in Gujarat, did not make any
to death. “His two friends managed to 2017 recorded vigilante groups which claimed report dent’ and that it depicted a pattern Reacting to such incidents, activ- direct reference to the community
escape. Else, they would have been allegiance to the ruling BJP, had been
killed too,” said a resident of the area. the highest gnawing issues for the country last
Apparently, this was the last report- death toll and year. As per an analysis conducted
ed violent death of the year 2017 of by Pew Research Centre that studied
any Muslim in the country, which is the most number 198 countries, India is fourth worst in
increasingly turning Islamophobic of incidents of the world in terms of religious intol-
since the present government came erance. The effects of hate crime are
to power in 2014. hate violence deeper and more wide-ranging than
Dozens of incidents were reported related to cows those of other serious crimes such as
last year, in which Muslim men were murders and assault. They impact not
lynched or killed in public in sus - and religion only the immediate victim, but also
pected hate crimes, contributing to the community with which the victim
a growing sense of insecurity among in the country identifies, affecting social cohesion
the community. According to Indi- since 2010 and stability, the latest IndiaSpend
aSpend database, the year recorded report pointed out.
the highest death toll (11 deaths) and Muslims remained the target
the most number of incidents of hate their own marches. Others used it throughout the year for trivial rea-
violence (37 incidents) related to cows to tweet their alarm over the spate sons too. Zaffer Hussain, 44, was
and religion in the country since 2010. of lynchings of Muslims by vigilante beaten by civic officials in Pratapgarh,
On April 1, Pehlu Khan, a dairy killers since the government’s “beef Rajasthan, after he objected to them
farmer, was going to Haryana with ban” came into force. photographing and taking videos of
cows and calves. He was beaten Although Prime Minister Naren- women defecating in the open, os-
to death by 200 cow vigilantes. In dra Modi in June broke his silence on tensibly for a sanitation campaign.
May 2017, two youths were publicly incidents of lynchings in the country, An autopsy report said that Hussain
lynched in Assam for stealing cows. the government apparently did not died of a cardiac failure, but his fam-
In June, 16-year-old Junaid Khan was have any particular measure to bring ily and eyewitnesses maintain that he

tehelka / 31 january 2018 46 www.tehelka.com

46-48 Crime Abdul.indd 2-3 12/01/18 4:11 PM