September 30, 2015

Mob kills Muslim villager over cow slaughter rumor in India

Wednesday 30 Sep 2015 - 14:45 Makkah mean time-17-12-1436

New Delhi (IINA) - A 58-year-old Muslim villager called Iqlakh was killed by a mob in Greater Noida's Bisada village, not far from New Delhi, India’s capital, on Monday night following rumors of cow slaughter in his house, according to media reports.  Danish, the victim’s 21-year-old son, was critically injured in the attack and is on ventilator support in Kailash Hospital, Noida, the police confirmed.
As tension gripped the village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and spread to nearby areas, another mob went on the rampage on Tuesday morning in Ooncha Amirpur - barely 5km from Bisada - demanding death penalty for those involved in cow slaughter. The mob clashed with the police after six people were arrested for the murder. Kiran S, SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar said, "Around 800 armed forces, including a battalion of Provincial Armed Constabulary and police from Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr and Hapur, have been deployed in the village and the areas around it."
Superintendent of police (rural) Sanjay Singh said Iqlakh's body has been handed over to his family after an autopsy, the report of which suggested that he died due to severe blood loss and haemmorage. He also said an FIR had been filed against 10 people, six of whom were nabbed and put behind bars. They have been identified as Rupender, Vivek, Sree Om, Sandeep, Saurabh and Gaurav, all in their late 20s. "All accused are from Bisada," Singh said. "They have confessed. We recovered some meat from their possession. The accused claimed it was beef that they recovered from the deceased's home. It has come to our knowledge that the mob held a meeting in a temple in the middle of the village, where they decided to teach the deceased a lesson for slaughtering cows. The mob then rushed to the victim's home and attacked the family," he added.
Family members of Iqlakh, the murdered Bisada villager, denied slaughtering any cow in their small house and claimed the story was cooked up to target them. They also claimed neither the cops reached on time nor their neighbors came to their rescue. Iqlakh lived there with his 70-year-old mother Asgari, 52-year-old wife Ikraman, younger son Danish (21) and daughter Sahista (16). His elder son Sartaz works with the Indian Air Force and is currently posted in Chennai. Danish suffered serious injuries in the attack. "Hundreds of people gathered in front of our house on Monday night and started abusing us," Times of India newspaper reported quoting Asgari. "A heated argument followed for 10 minutes after which the agitators turned violent and broke open the main gate. They misbehaved with my daughter-in-law and grand-daughter. They did not even spare me. I had locked myself in the washroom but they broke open the washroom door and thrashed me." Asgari added, "The attack continued for nearly half an hour, but no one came to our rescue. They brutally thrashed my son and grandson. They, then dragged my son's body to the road and fled after dumping it there."
The family members alleged that a call from the loudspeaker mounted on a village temple incited the mob to attack their house. “After dinner, my father went to sleep in his room on the first floor. We heard the announcement from the village temple in our vicinity calling the villagers to assemble at our house as he had slaughtered a calf. At 10:30pm, more than 100 people armed with sticks and bricks surrounded my house. They abused and broke the main gate to enter our house. They mercilessly thrashed my brother who was studying on the ground floor and damaged the furniture. Thereafter, they went upstairs and attacked my father,” Mehraaj, daughter of the victim told Hindustan Times.
The mob also misbehaved with the women in the house, Mehraaj added. Mehraaj said the mob dragged her father to the main road of the village. “They tore my father’s clothes. We pleaded with them to leave him but they did not listen. They kept hitting on my father’s head and chest with stones and sticks till he died. The mob dispersed after they heard the siren of the police vehicles,” she said. She did not know who informed the police but the area police officials said that they got a phone call about the attack.
Senior citizens of the village say Ikhlaq’s family has been living in the village for the past 70 years and they had a good reputation among the villagers. He was a blacksmith and used to help everyone in the village that has never witnessed any communal tension in the past. “He was very happy when his elder son Sartaj got recruited in Indian Air Force around two years ago. His younger son Danish was studying in a college and was preparing for competitive exams for a government job. The incident is very unfortunate for the entire village,” said Dharam Pal, a villager.
The Bisada village falls under Dadri tehsil in Greater Noida. It has a population of 9,000 people, most of whom belong to the Thakur community. The village has only two houses belonging to Muslims. Ikhlaq’s neighbours have been missing since the incident and have abandoned the village. The victim’s cousin Toufiq Khan, who managed to flee from the spot after the mob attack told police that the mob tried to beat him as well.
HA/IINA

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