Child-lifting rumours: Bihar mob intensified attack on victims after learning they were Muslims – By Umesh Kumar Ray
Five Muslims, including an eight-year-old boy, were injured as a mob in Gaya, Bihar attacked them over suspicions of child lifting on August 25. “Maar Miyawan Hai [Beat them, they are Muslims]”, the mob shouted and intensified the attack when they discovered their victims were Muslim, eye-witnesses told FactChecker.in. In an unrelated incident on the same day, the forest department booked the four adult victims for killing protected birds.
This is the ninth attack over rumours of child-lifting in Bihar – after five people were killed in eight attacks in August, as FactChecker.in reported on August 27. Nationwide, since 2012, 44 people have been killed and at least 136 injured in 88 attacks linked to child-lifting rumours, according to a FactChecker.in database that tracks such attacks. Odisha had the most attacks (15), followed by Tamil Nadu (13) and Bihar (10). Most attacks, that is 69 of them, were reported in 2018 – as high as 94% of those in the May-July period.
This is also the third hate crime motivated by religious bias in Bihar this year, according to Hate Crime Watch, a FactChecker.in database that records such attacks. Since 2009, Hate Crime Watch has recorded 302 hate crimes, which led to 101 deaths and at least 746 injuries.…
SEE ALSO:
- Tabrez Ansari’s killing: Land of blood and shame – By Harsh Mander (Aug 31, 2019, The Hindu)
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/land-of-blood-and-shame/article29301014.ece - Mob attacks on rumoured child lifters are back with a vengeance. What will it take to end them? – By Aarefa Johari (Sep 5, 2019, Scroll.in)
https://scroll.in/article/936092/mob-attacks-on-rumoured-child-lifters-are-back-with-a-vengeance-what-will-it-take-to-end-them - UAPA Amendment 2019: Protection Or Persecution – By Tamanna Pankaj (Sep 4, 2019, Muslim Mirror)
http://muslimmirror.com/eng/uapa-amendment-2019-protection-or-persecution/ - Four months after Oraon man is lynched in Jharkhand, bafflement at how neighbours could be so brutal – By Harsh Mander (Sep 6, 2019, Scroll.in)
https://scroll.in/article/936397/four-months-after-oraon-man-is-lynched-in-jharkhand-bafflement-at-how-neighbours-could-be-so-brutal
