Police say Mohammad Ismail was caught stealing, family refutes the claim
Zafar Aafaq | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A Muslim electrician was beaten to death by a mob in Araria district of Bihar on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Mohammad Ismail.
Vikas Kumar, the Station House Officer of Jokihat police station, said a case has been registered and one of the accused named Rupesh Yadav arrested on murder charges.
Police as well as media reports say Ismail was caught stealing inside a house and brutally thrashed by people which caused his death. “There were two men…one of them managed to escape but Ismail was caught,” said Kumar
However, his family refutes such claims and vouch for his innocence.
According to his family, Ismail was fixing electric cables on a pole in his locality when two motorcycle-borne men came and asked him to accompany them to their village. “They said they needed some electric repair work done,” Moin Ahmad, Ismail’s uncle, told Clarion India. “He went with them and did not return home after that.”
He said Ismail was beaten and then “thrown at hospital in Jokihat” where he was declared dead by doctors.
“It seems he was killed by a team,” Moin said. “They were men from the Yadav community of Chakai village.”
According to reports, one of the accused Domar Yadav is involved in another case of lynching that took place in the area last year.
On Sunday evening, Muslim residents of the area gathered outside the police station and demanded that “all the culprits should be nabbed and arrested immediately”.
Abdullah Salim Qamar, a local worker of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) who spoke with the media, raised questions on the efficiency of police in enforcing the law. He said that some people are taking law into their own hands and police are unable to stop them. “If someone is caught in robbery, he should be handed over to police and not beaten up.”
Ismail, a resident of Balwai village, is survived by his wife Masarrat, three children and 70-year-old father Shoaib. His body was laid to rest on Monday, the family said.
