Hundreds attend rally in support of Hindu extremist accused of burning Muslim men alive
Hundreds of Hindu extremists attended a public rally in support of a Hindu extremist responsible for the brutal burning and killing of two Muslim men in Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Haryana state.
The two Muslim men, Junaid and Nasir, were brutally attacked and burned alive over false suspicions of cow theft. The prime accused in the case, Monu Manesar, is part of the violent Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal, and has been involved in several cow vigilante attacks.
While Manesar has claimed he had no involvement in the lynchings, he is currently evading arrest by law enforcement.
His extremist supporters at the rally made threatening speeches addressing the police, warning them not to make any attempt to search or arrest Manesar.
“If Rajasthan Police raids the houses of Monu Manesar or the people associated with him, then the police will come, but won’t be able to go back on their feet,” a speaker said in a blatant threat of violence.
“While protecting cows, if we have to lose our life or if we have to take the life of those opposing us… we are not going to back down,” he added.
Cow vigilantism, or Hindu mob violence against Muslims who transport or slaughter cows, has become dangerously commonplace in Hindu supremacist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India.
Muslims fear contacting healthcare services after data breach led to mass arrests
Muslims in Assam state fear contacting healthcare services out of fear of arbitrary arrest, leading to deaths and other complications within the minority community, a fact-finding report by the India-based rights group Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has found.
Muslims developed distrust in public health facilities after a data breach from health surveys were used to arrest over 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, under the vague pretext of child marriage.
The crackdown has already begun leading to deaths. A 16-year-old bled to death after delivering a baby at home since family didn’t inform government health workers about her delivery or take her to the hospital due to fear of police using hospital data to track child marriage.
According to reports, her husband, 25-year-old Sahinur Ali, and his father, Ainal Haque, 53, were arrested in the crackdown.
The massive crackdown has come in for severe criticism from legal luminaries, political leaders, and social media users who believe that it is part of the Hindu supremacist government’s larger motive to demonize and harass Muslims.
Muslim man arrested under false charges of forced conversion gets bail after 605 days
After 605 days of unjust incarceration under false allegations of forced conversion, the Supreme Court of India granted bail to Irfan Shaikh, who was arrested under BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh’s draconian anti-conversion law.
Shaikh, a federal government employee, was arrested in June of 2021 after helping someone convert from Hinduism to Islam after the individual expressed interest in Islam.
Many prominent Muslim scholars, including Umar Gautam and Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, remain imprisoned under similar baseless charges due to the criminalization of conversion to minority faiths, particularly Christianity and Islam.
Hindu supremacists claim anti-conversion laws protect Hindus from “allurement” or being influenced to convert to another faith. However, this phrasing has been weaponized by Hindu extremists against minorities in order to justify arrests, physical attacks, and other violent threats.
Throughout India, Muslims and Christians have suffered mob beatings and arbitrary arrests due to anti-conversion laws.
