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The merciless lynching of 16 year old Junaid (resident of Khandawali, Ballabgarh) in a crowded train in broad day light on June 12, 2017 is a high point of religious humiliation and violence being perpetrated on the Muslim masses by organized gangs in the Faridabad-Mewat-Alwar belt for the last 2 years. Junaid and his brothers were bitterly abused and vulgar aspersions were called on their religion while they were being brutally beaten and stabbed. His brother Shakir Hussain is struggling for life in Trauma Center, Safdar Jung Hospital, New Delhi. The incident is not an isolated event, it has a sinister pattern.
In May 2015, an attack was mounted on 150 Muslim families of Atali (Ballabgarh) when they were preparing to complete an unfinished mosque following court order in their favor. 25 people were injured and 25 homes burnt before police intervened and took the Muslim residents to police station for safety. A week later people returned back, however, offensives against them continued until all the families were forced to flee. Not many families since then have returned.
In 2016, murderous attack was carried on the family of Zaheeruddin in Deengerhedi (Tauru, Mewat) in which his son Ibrahim (39) and daughter in law Rashidan (37) were killed, daughter and son in law were critically injured and their daughters’ dignity was attacked. On April 1, 2017 a farmer from Jaisinghpur, Mewat, Mr. Pehlu Khan, his sons Irshad and Arif and neighbors Azmat and Rafiq, returning from Jaipur after purchasing 5 milking cows, were stopped in Behror (Alwar) by motor riding cow vigilantes and brutally thrashed. Pehlu Khan died a day later. The police confiscated their cows and have not yet returned them despite valid papers. The government has not paid any relief so far. On April 5, 2017 a procession was taken out in Behror, not showing any sympathy with Pehlu Khan but demanding that no ‘innocent’ Hindu should be arrested. There have been instances of sectarian offensives in Tikri Brahmin (Palwal) and elsewhere also. Blatant drive to check biryani samples on the occasion of Id ul Zuha has only brought immense humiliation and fear.
We demand
i) immediate compensation for the victims of these heinous crimes
ii) bringing the attacking gangs to justice,
iii) cessation of political and administrative patronage to cow vigilantes/ fanatics,
iv) disbanding of the recent moves on cow slaughter that have become a curtain for criminals to project themselves as heroes,
v) declaration by the state that cow can’t be protected unless tractor based farming and truck based transport stop.
You may recall, when Gandhi was attacked in South Africa, his struggle was directed against the state that patronized color discrimination. Similar onus falls on the Government of India and State governments as it is under them that these elements are emboldened.
Sadbhav Mission tripathivipin[at]yahoo.co.in, 9717309263
We invite like-minded groups and individuals to be a part of this memorandum. We also plan to reach out to people in the villages in these districts.
V.K. Tripathi
