In Bihar, Muslims are facing increasing hostility and hatred after 2017 – By Natasha Badhwar, Harsh Mander, Navsharan Singh & John Dayal

As we travelled on a bumpy bus along the long and dusty roads and pathways of Bihar in February, we often felt weighed down with the realisation of how hate has reached far corners of the country.

This was the 26th journey of the Karwan-e-Mohabbat, and Bihar was the 14th state of India to which we have travelled so far. From February 25 to February 28, the Karwan journeyed to the homes of the families of victims of mob lynching and targeted victimisation by the police. We found that like much of the country, Bihar is today riven with communal polarisation and violence.

An 82-year-old man was bludgeoned and burnt alive by a mob including teenagers and a woman in a busy marketplace in October because of rumours that the arm of a Durga statue had been damaged. A Hindu boy was killed in January 2015 probably because he was in love with a Muslim girl, and in retaliation four completely unrelated Muslims were lynched in full view of the families. Three teenaged Muslim boys were jailed for three months in March 2018 and continue to face charges for allegedly shouting “Pakistan zindabad” and that India should break into “tukde tukde”, several pieces, on the basis of an obviously doctored video.…

https://scroll.in/article/915634/bihar-being-overtaken-by-hostility-and-hatred-toward-muslims-as-police-state-officials-look-away

SEE ALSO:

• Stereotyping Muslims: Analyzing Ram Guha, Harsh Mander and Irena Akbar a year after their articles on Muslim marginalization – By Zeeshan Kaskar (Mar 15, 2019, Muslim Mirror)
  http://muslimmirror.com/eng/stereotyping-muslims-analyzing-ram-guha-harsh-mander-and-irena-akbar-a-year-after-their-articles-on-muslim-marginalization/
• Fact finding report of burning of 200 houses in Meerut – By Faisal Khan, Sandeep Pandey and Shabbir Husain Dar (Mar 15, 2019, Twocircles.net)
  http://twocircles.net/2019mar15/430094.html