The body of Mohammad Shalik in hospital on Thursday. Police said three persons have been arrested for the assault.(HT photo)
The girl allegedly called the boy to meet her at Gumla town for the Ram Navami procession on Wednesday. Fearing trouble, Shakil initially refused but finally went to meet her on a scooty and dropped her home, police said.
It is then that a group of neighbours saw Shalik and surrounded him, tied him to a tree and assaulted him for hours, the woman was quoted as saying by police. He succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.
Police said they arrested three people and lodged an FIR against unnamed people. “Though investigation is on, we were told by the villagers that the boy had been asked earlier not to meet the girl and never visit the village,” said Gumla superintendent of police Chandan Kumar Jha.
The incident comes amid rising communal tensions in the state following a slew of controversial initiatives in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Activists have cried foul against Jharkhand’s decision to create anti-romeo squads and seal illegal slaughterhouses, saying that the moves unfairly targeted the Muslim community.
Earlier this week, a Muslim man was lynched by a group of alleged cow protection vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar when he was transporting cattle. A group of men also forced a couple to shave their heads in Uttar Pradesh, one of a similar string of alleged moral policing incidents.
Shalik’s murder triggered tensions in Gumla town but police thwarted any violence by deploying hundreds of personnel. “The situation is under control,” Jha added.
Shalik’s father Mohammad Minhaj said two people came to his house on Wednesday night to tell him that his son was being beaten and tied to rope at Soso village. “I informed police immediately. When we reached at the village, we found my son was critically injured,” he said. He was taken to Sadar hospital immediately. The hospital authority referred him to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi but he died on the way.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/20-year-old-muslim-man-tied-to-tree-beaten-to-death-for-being-in-love-with-hindu-woman/story-cJF6zGNilUK4mngaMpIhNI.html
April 8, 2017 at 3:40 pm
The beating to death of a muslim man is tragic. The religious fanatics are hindering the progress of society. Even loving across religions is being viewed with cruelty. This atrocious nature must change and the right to life and liberty should be upheld