”The temple’s priest was talking about cutting my nails and fingers and burning my body at a cremation ground,” said Danish.
New Delhi: A group of Hindutva fanatics thrashed a labourer identified as Danish in a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district. They tied him with a rope and thrashed with pipes.
Local BJP leader Shailendra Verma was purportedly involved in the attack, according to News 18 Hindi report.
Danish says he was working as a labourer at the temple. Everything was fine until his name was revealed to people managing construction work at the temple.
When he asked for the payment he was called to a room and asked to tell his name. When he said he was Danish, they asked, ”are you a Muslim?. After that, they locked the main door, tied me with ropes and started beating with pipes,” he said while speaking to a local media outlet called Tejas News.
https://twitter.com/imMAK02/status/1372388791084851201
They accused him of stealing in the temple to justify their act.
He was freed after the police and his relatives reached the spot.
”The temple’s priest was talking about cutting my nails and fingers and burning my body at a cremation ground,” said Danish.
News 18 Hindi report quoted SP City Prashant Kumar as saying that two men allegedly involved in the incident have been arrested.
Rising violence against Muslims
Violence against Muslims and other minority communities has become increasingly frequent in India since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power in 2014.
“Attacks continued against minorities, especially Muslims, even as authorities failed to take action against BJP leaders who vilified Muslims and BJP supporters who engaged in violence,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its World Report 2021.
A particularly jarring episode was the communal violence that broke out in New Delhi last February.
At least 53 people were killed – a majority of them Muslim – and over 200 were injured, properties destroyed, and communities displaced in targeted attacks by Hindu mobs, according to HRW.
“A July report by the Delhi Minorities Commission said the violence in Delhi was “planned and targeted,” and found that the police were filing cases against Muslim victims for the violence, but not taking action against the BJP leaders who incited it,” read the report.
Earlier this month, American watchdog Freedom House downgraded India’s status from a “free” country to a “partly free” country.
The group’s Freedom in the World report noted the “rising violence and discriminatory policies affecting the Muslim population” in India.
It also highlighted the “crackdown on expressions of dissent by the media, academics, civil society groups, and protesters” during Prime Minister Modi’s tenure.
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A Mohalla group comprising select member should organise 30 minutes social awareness talk after Friday prayer in local masjid. Majority of our semi skilled labors and illustrate helpers should be guided to be better informed of ground situation around them before they take up job or have their stall Rumors take heavy toll.This need to be addressed with co-ordination of local Imam and Councillor and Police.In case of such incidents, community leaders should approach authorities for proper investigation and solution.