Umar Farooq / Kounsar Bashir
An 18-Year-Old boy, Syed Shahnawaz Shah, resident of Sailsui Kalakote, Rajouri was attacked by some Hindu goons when he was dispersing the cattle from his cornfield which resulted in him getting a head injury and became the cause of his death on July 22.
Shahnawaz, an 11th class student was beaten mercilessly by 8 Hindu men, whom his family had bought land from 15 Years ago. The goons claimed that the land is still theirs.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, brother of deceased, Syed Rakhmad Shah, said that around 12 noon on 10 July, a group of 8 Hindu men attacked him when this 18-year-old teenager was dispersing the cattle of the Hindu men from his cornfield.
“We bought land from a Hindu 15 years ago. A group of Hindu people have ever since harassed us. They want us to leave the place. Due to this, my mother lost her life some time ago and now my younger brother lost his life too. Our house is the lone house in the forest, we are vulnerable to persecution,” he said.
He said to The Kashmiriyat, “They (goons) sent their cattle into the field. And when my brother got there, in order to shoo them out, he was attacked by 8 people. He got a severe injury in his head, which resulted in a clot in his brain and he succumbed later.”
“They would always drop their cattle into our fields for grazing and when we would try to shoo them away, the(Goons) would argue with us and tell us that it was their land,” he added.
Rakhmand said that after his brother was attacked, the Police denied to lodge any FIR. And that the S.H.O did not take any action because he got calls from higher authorities.
“The IO( Investigative Officer) visited the spot and told us that if we took any action, an FIR would be lodged against us,” Shah said.
“They are threatening us. They’ve told us that if we take any action, they will kill us. They say that they have the money and the power. We’ve been tortured because of their approach. The Police did not do anything, that is why they are threatening us.”
Shah said that he was at work when he came to know about the incident. He said that he took the family to the police station at about 3 a.m but the Police denied medical examination of the body.
“When the SHO arrived, he told us that the Police shall go to the spot and the medical examination would begin after that. But it did not happen. We went back the next day and submitted the application so that they visit the spot. But they did not visit. And instead, my father himself went to Kalakote to bring them here,” said Shah.
He told The Kashmiriyat that his father was there with his brother when he was beaten. He added that his father would have died too, had the womenfolk from the village not rescued them. The women of the village had to beg in front of the goons for the release of the victims, he said.
“We treated him at home fearing that if we took him out they will kill us all.”
He says that the victim’s mental condition was not stable after the incident. He suffered sudden attacks and he fell unconscious one day. He was taken to the District hospital. He was in coma and was referred to GMC Jammu in an ambulance they were provided with. But he died while still in coma on July 22, G.M.C Jammu at around 4 a.m.
“We only plead for justice so that no more innocents are oppressed and murdered. I identify murderers as Vinod Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Vishal Sharma, Sanjay Sharma, Prince Sharma and Kali Das,” Rakhmand Shah said.
He said that the accused Vinod Kumar was an ex-serviceman, who would always say to them that he had enough power to kill 5-6 people and get away with it. Kumar would always roam around with his gun saying that he would kill them all. He had also used a gun to threaten his mother.
On being asked about Shahnawaz getting treatment for snakebite, Syed Rakhmad Shah said that when Shahnawaz was injured, he was being treated for snakebite because the family was afraid that if they told the truth to the doctors, they (attackers) would harm us.
“The doctors suspected that it was not snake bite but my father denied it in front of them because of fear,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
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He said that no FIR was not lodged at the time but they have been told that it could be done in 3-4 days.
Meanwhile, when The Kashmiriyat tried to contact SHO Kalakote over the phone, he denied giving any statement saying that the DSP himself was investigating the matter.
Notably, this is not the first time that a Muslim minority person was murdered by Hindu goons. A rampant rise in such incidents has been witnessed since the past few years. The trend has also become popular across the erstwhile state of Jammu Kashmir.
Around 3 months ago, 2 Muslim men in Garhote village of Tehsil Bhalwal in District Jammu were tortured by cow vigilantes, when they were returning from fields with their cattle.
In another incident, a group of Bajrang Dal men allegedly attacked and stabbed a man near Bengaluru, who was travelling to Bengaluru in a private bus along with his Hindu female friend, The Indian Express had reported on 3rd April 2021.
A Muslim boy was beaten for drinking water from a Hindu temple at Dasna in Ghaziabad district which lies in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state, the Dawn reported on 14 March 2021.