Muslim leaders are angry over the failure of the state government to stop mob attacks against members of the minority community.
Team Clarion
RANCHI – Maulana Shahabuddin, an imam of a mosque in Barkada district, was beaten to death after his bike hit a woman causing minor injuries to her in Jharkhand’s Koderma district.
According to reports, the incident happened on Sunday when Shahabuddin was returning home from Barkada. Losing balance after a sudden appearance of an auto before his vehicle, Shahabuddin’s bike collided with Anita Devi causing minor injuries to her hands and nose. Following the incident, Anita Devi’s husband, her relatives and some locals gathered at the spot and started assaulting Shahbuddin beating him up with baton and sticks.
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The mob continued to assault the victim even though the woman was asking them to let him go. Suraj Das, a local leader associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), said that the assault took place owing to the Muslim identity of the victim.
The woman was not seriously injured, but the mob beat him because he was a Muslim, they probably noticed that he was wearing a cap and sporting a beard, The Observer Post reported him as saying.
The police have denied any mob lynching angle. Instead, they are treating the case as an accident.
The life of Shahabuddin’s wife is shattered. She said that she came to know about the incident when she saw a video on a mobile phone. “He was coming to attend a wedding function….I saw that my husband was beaten up with a bat,” his wife Ashgari Khatoon told local reporters.
She demanded justice for her husband.
Meanwhile, Muslim leaders have expressed their anger over the failure of the state government to stop mob attacks against members of minority community.
“The lynching of Maulana Shahabuddin is another black spot on the government. These days, the lynchings are becoming the identity of Muslims in Jharkhand. Earlier too, several such incidents had happened. But what happened to Maulana Shahabuddin has exposed the law and order and system of Jharkhand government,” said a community leader from Jharkhand in his video statement.
He demanded action against the culprits within 48 hours while slamming Chief Minister Champai Soren, former chief minister Hemant Soren and Shibu Soren for not stopping the lynchings in the state.
“Has sporting beard and wearing skull-cap become crime in Jharkhand…Muslims have stood by you everywhere and every time. You have not stood by law and order.”
The entire country, he said, is wondering why lynching of Muslims are not stopping in Jharkhand.
