Muslim man lynched to death by Hindu mob in Bihar ahead of Eid
55-year-old Muslim truck driver Muhammad Zahiruddin was lynched to death in Bihar state by a Hindu extremist mob despite the police being present just days before the Muslim holiday Eid.
The truck was carrying bones to a factory that makes medicinal ingredients. Cattle bones are used to make gelatin for the pharmaceutical industry.
While other workers were able to flee the Hindu mob, Zahiruddin was unable to run due to a previous fracture, which had necessitated a metal rod in his leg.
“The local police also reached the spot but they did not intervene in the matter. The mob blamed the truck driver for being a Muslim and doing the business of bones and flesh ahead of Eid-al-Adha,” the factory owner, Haider, said.
Earlier this week, 32-year-old Affan Abdul Ansari was beaten to death by a brutal Hindu extremist mob in Maharashtra state over suspicions of carrying cow meat. In another incident in the same district, a 23-year-old Muslim man named Lukman Suleman Ansari was lynched to death by a Hindu extremist mob.
Hindu militant mobs have increasingly been targeting Muslims over baseless accusations of crime. These mobs, also known as cow vigilantes, are known for attacking and often lynching Muslims accused of transporting cattle or consuming beef with impunity.
Muslims attacked by Hindu extremists for bringing home goats for Eid
A Muslim couple was called “terrorists” and attacked by a mob of Hindu extremists in Mumbai city after they brought goats meant for sacrifice on Eid-al-Adha into their housing complex.
“If bringing the goats inside the housing colony was against the law, then they should have filed a police complaint against us. We were assaulted, molested and mentally harassed by the mob that gathered to protest against us,” reported the couple, Mohsin Khan and Yasmin Khan.
Yasmin Khan added, “They started manhandling us… During the scuffle they also tore my clothes, forcing me to call the police.”
“They did not allow us to enter the [housing] society and called us terrorists… said we should not be allowed to stay in the society,” she reported.
No arrests have yet been made.
Muslims in Uttarakhand barred from offering Eid prayers, told to pray 25 miles away
Muslim from Badrinath town in Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Uttarakhand state were instructed by police to not hold Eid prayers inside the town. They were ordered to offer Eid prayers in a neighboring town, nearly 25 miles away from Badrinath.
Muslims residents of Badrinath are mostly migrant laborers working on reconstruction projects at temples.
“A meeting with members of the minority community, priests, and contractors engaged in the projects was held on Tuesday. It was collectively decided that the ‘namaz’ of Bakrid will be offered in Joshimath and not in Badrinath,” the police have said.
Hindu militants in Uttarakhand state have called for a mass expulsion of Muslims and ethnic cleansing over the past few weeks.
