Mir Junaid
Mir Hussain and his elder Cousin, Mohammed Sidiq Gujjar were returning from his fields with his cattle, when they were surrounded by a group of cow vigilnates in the Garhote village of Tehsil Bhalwal in District Jammu on the dusk of Thursday shortly after finishing the post dusk meals and beaten mercilessly allegedly for being Muslims.
The duo were returning from their fields after a busy day of work with the bulls at Danu and on theur way to their native Bagni, they were accused of cow slaughter, sharp edged knives were forces into their hands and videos of the duo with knives portrayed as meant for ‘slaughter’ of the bovine were circulated widely on the social media handles.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat a family member of the injured men said that around 9:30 PM, a group of 15- 20 Hindu men stopped the brothers when they were on the way home with their cattle who had gone to graze a few days ago. “The duo were stopped and soon all the men shouting slogans and hurling abuses at the duo came closer to them, rounded them up and started beating them with sticks,” he said.
The duo pleaded that they be left alone as they are the residents of the same village as these men and they know them all, upon which one responded, “We do not care that you know us and they all started beating the duo mercilessly.” A video of the incident has gone viral shows harrowing images of the two, blooding oozing from the mouth of the younger cousin, while blood dripping down the head of Mohammed Sidiq.
While Sidiq with cuts near his brows and forhead had blood stains all over his white Kurta and there were no signs of Mercy, Mir Hussain fell down on the ground and felt lifeless. “I felt death was coming to me, i just wanted to see my children before death was coming to me,” his relative quoted him as saying, while speaking to The Kashmiriyat over phone.
They had long boots and they kicked us contsantly with the boots and the beating did not stop for several minutes with all of them jumping upon two us together and slapping, kicking, punching and hurling abuses all at once, the duo told their families, adding, “We could not differentiate between saliva and blood, blood was oozing out of my mouth constantly, yet they displayed no mercy,”
He said that it was shameful that such men initially take the law into their own hands and then after committing the crime, they celeberate the crime by recording it and later uploading it to the social media. “Such incidents have to be stopped, it is an open challenege to law-enforcement agencies, the country is slipping fast into the hands of an insane race,” a Gujjar activist said.
The family thanked the Police for saving the lives of the duo and said that the the Police have promised full cooperation in the FIR they filed at PS Gharota in Jammu.
Radical cow protection groups in India have killed at least 44 people over the last three years and often received support from law enforcement and Hindu nationalist politicians, according to a 104 page report from Human Rights Watch. The report further said that, 36 of the dead were members of India’s Muslim minority. About 280 people have been injured in more than 100 attacks between May 2015 and December 2018.
Responding angrily to the incident, various young activists of Gujjar and Bakerwal community took to twitter.
Zahid Chowdary, who is State Presidentof Jammu Kashmir Gujjar Bakerwal Youth Welfare Committee responding to the incident wrote, Another incident of Mob lynching repeated in Jammu, two Gujjar were badly beaten by RSS goons in Garhote area of Tehsil Balwal of Dist Jammu, when they were returning back from their fields with cattles As the Govt z responsible because no action taken in past incidents by Police
Another incident of Mob lynching repeated in Jammu, two Gujjar were badly beaten by RSS goons in Garhote area of Tehsil Balwal of Dist Jammu, when they were returning back from their fields with cattles
As the Govt z responsible because no action taken in past incidents by Police pic.twitter.com/v3Fimjgmjd— Zahid Parwaz Choudhary (@ZahidParwaz) May 7, 2021
Female Gujjar Activist, Saima Chowdhary too condemned the attack saying, “This is highly condemnable act. Gujjar community of Jammu are soft targets by the goons. Post abrogation of Art 370, Every other day they are brutally attacked, women’s are being molesated and nobody is listening.”
This is highly condemnable act. Gujjar community of Jammu are soft targets by the goons. Post abrogation of Art 370, Every other day they are brutally attacked, women’s are being molesated and nobody is listening. @mukesh_ips_jk Sir kindly deliver Justice to the family. https://t.co/Exf0p67WKJ
— saima_chowdhary #SOSPoonch (@ChowdharySaima) May 7, 2021
“Two Gujjar beaten badly by goons at village Bhagani in the jurisdiction of PS Gharota of district Jammu. They were going home along with two OX on the way they were badly beaten & are now admitted at GMC Jammu,” Guftar Ahmed Chowdary wrote on his twitter.
Two Gujjar beaten badly by goons at village Bhagani in the jurisdiction of PS Gharota of district Jammu. They were going home along with two OX on the way they were badly beaten & are now admitted at GMC Jammu. Request @mukesh_ips_jk sir to kindly take cognisance of matter. pic.twitter.com/oi4daZKOqY
— Guftar Ahmed (گفتار احمد) (@GuftarAhmedCh) May 7, 2021
People are dying in this pandemic.
But Goons of RSS are on their mission to Lynching people on the name of religion, Minority and caste. Now jammu is become a hub of Mob lynching after Abogration 370.Lynching of particular sect society i.e, Gujjar Bakerwal cummunity is common. pic.twitter.com/tn9n8VDos9— Choudhary Irshad Khatana #LadengeAurJeetenge (@Irshad_0003) May 7, 2021
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