A Muslim vegetable seller was beaten to death by a group of Hindutva goons accusing him of stealing a battery in Hapur district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, but the allegation of theft appears to be a ruse.
Local police have filed an FIR against the four culprits for killing Nadeem on a complaint by the family of the deceased, a resident of Garh town in Hapur.
As per the complaint, Nadeem, who used to make living from selling vegetable, was out on a round to sell his wares as a routine when the Hin-dutva goons assaulted him purportedly on the suspi-cion of stealing the battery of a truck. Later, the family was informed by the police about death of Nadeem whose dead body was lying in the hospital.
Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Mukesh Mishra said that the police were informed by the Meerut Nursing Home that a man named Nadeem was brought to the hospital dead. A police team reached the hospital, took the body into custody and conducted an autopsy on it.
Taking cognizance of the offence, the police filed an FIR on the complaint of the family members and are on a hunt to track down the murderers.
Meanwhile, a video surfaced on social media showing the distraught family members of the de-ceased wailing inconsolably while his body bearing marks of beating lying in front of them.
Reacting to the video, journalist Alishan Jafri has drawn the attention of the public towards growing cases of mob violence in India. He said in the absence of punitive action the culprits are embold-ened with a sense of impunity.
“Despite so many murders and cases of mob violence across India, the government is not ready to tackle these propaganda messages about theft and kidnapping rumors,” he said.—KMS
