Living In The Age Of Lynching

“Is a Muslim life worth anything?” asks a grim-faced Mohammed Naeem, sitting unnaturally still on the edge of the wooden charpai in his Nanpara home in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.

His brother Mohammed Ateeq’s life he says, was only worth a 20-rupee paan which was why a group of five to six men lynched him 35km from Nanpara. “My brother didn’t know them, had no enmity with them, he wasn’t even the one to fight or instigate anyone,” said Naeem.

Ateeq was one of many killed because of his identity, his family alleges.

Lynchings have surged over the past decade. Those targeted have been predominantly Muslim, or other minorities and scheduled castes such as Dalits. While these acts are frequently described as spontaneous mob violence, there are those who argue that such violence is not merely a spontaneous expression of anger but, instead, is the result of systematic incitement by Hindu extremists.

Between June 7 and July 5, across India, 12 people died after being lynched, according to the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR.) Additionally, the Hate Crime Tracker (HCT) reported 72 confirmed incidents of hate crimes and hate speeches during the first quarter of 2024 (January-March.) HCT’s report defines a hate crime as a criminal act committed against an individual or victim due to their race, religion, colour, national origin, sexual orientation, or other personal traits, motivated by hostility and prejudice. This includes mob violence, attacks on property, intimidation, physical assault, provocation, threats, and incitement to violence. For 66 per cent of the 72 cases, the alleged primary driver behind these incidents was the victims’ religious identity.

The 2015 lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq was one of the first cases to shock the nation. It’s extensive coverage by media outlets exposed growing communal tensions in the country, and the urgent need for stronger legal measures to fight hate. Despite national and international attention, nine years after they lost him, Akhlaq’s family still awaits justice. His murder set a disturbing precedent, becoming a model for similar attacks across India thereafter. Self-proclaimed vigilantes have continued to target Muslim men under the guise of cow protection; however, the reasons for these attacks have expanded beyond cow protection, with recent incidents often lacking clear motives.

In Bahraich, as Ateeq’s grieving family—his wife, brother, sister, and mother—sat in the verandah, against contrasting walls painted a bright green. They recounted the events of that fateful day, while his five-year-old daughter, Inaya Naz, looked from her mother’s face to her uncle’s. They spoke with shoulders slumped and eyes staring into the distance.

“Papa is in Delhi,” the five-year-old piped in. Her mother managing a small smile and a nod.

“She doesn’t understand what it means when someone dies,” Ateeq’s sister said softly. The last time the child saw her father was in a Lucknow hospital. When he died, the family told her that her father had been shifted to a Delhi hospital. “She thinks he’s still sick and getting treatment in Delhi,” the child’s aunt added.

On June 2, Mohammed Ateeq, who was locally known as Achhe Bhai, was returning home after running an errand when he decided to stop for a paan. He was accompanied by a friend Mujeeb Ahmed. The pair approached a roadside shop near the Kotwali Nagar police station in Bahraich. They asked the shopkeeper for a paan. Initially, the shopkeeper claimed he did not have any, but when Ateeq saw all the ingredients on display, the shopkeeper said he did sell paan but Ateeq couldn’t afford it.

In a video statement recorded after the incident, and before Ateeq lost consciousness, he said: “I asked him how he could judge if someone could afford the paan or not just by looking at their faces. He then said it’s for 20 rupees, but by then I didn’t want it so I just said no. He started abusing me so I asked him to talk to me with respect and after that it just got out of hand.”

An argument broke out, and the shopkeeper became furious. Soon, his friends and other local shopkeepers joined in, and the situation escalated. The confrontation turned violent, with the crowd slapping, punching, and kicking Ateeq and Mujeeb. Afterward, the crowd took the two Muslim men hostage, and asked for their names. Ateeq’s brother believes that once the crowd found out the men were Muslim, their assault on the pair became even more brutal.

Mujeeb, who was with Ateeq, remains deeply disturbed by how the events unfolded. A scar runs along the right side of his neck, a reminder of the deep cut he sustained. He speaks in a voice barely above a whisper, his eyes fixed on the floor. “We were scared,” he says.

“They outnumbered us, and surrounded us. Achhe Bhai took a chance, he ran, and when he did about two or three of them followed him,” he says.

Mujeed did not see what happened to Ateeq as it was at a distance, and he too was receiving a beating. “I’m told they hit him on his head with a metal rod. He fell, and when the men realised what they had done they ran,” he says.

Ateeq was taken to the local hospital where he recorded his statement. At first, it didn’t appear as though his condition was critical. But minutes after recording the statement he became unconscious.

“His condition started deteriorating so he was referred to Lucknow,” Ateeq’s wife Rumi says.

After five days in hospital, Ateeq died because of the injuries on June 7. He was 38-years-old.

Naeem says this is not the first time the accused have been involved in such a serious crime. He describes them as “dabang” and “dadagiri karne wale” (bullies and intimidators,) and recounts a previous incident where a man’s hand was severed after an argument with them.

“They’ve beaten up numerous people, mostly the poor and predominantly from our Muslim community,” Naeem says.

Mohammed Salim, Ateeq’s friend and neighbour, dabs his eyes with the gamcha around his neck. “Achhe Bhai earned his name for a reason—he was the kindest person around here,” he says. The accused claim that Ateeq started the fight. To this, Salim says, “I find it hard to believe.”

However, the victim’s family is pressing for the UP police to change Sections 307 (attempt to murder) to 302 (murder) IPC.

In Barabanki, Danish Ali is fighting a similar but different fight. In May of this year, his uncle Siraj Ali, a man in his early fifties, was seen leaving with two young men from his locality. Two days later, locals discovered his beaten and bloodied body about eight kilometers from their location.

Danish Ali says his uncle was an easy target for the accused due to his recent injuries from a motorcycle accident and the money he was carrying from selling scaffolding and construction material. Siraj was also unmarried and lived with his brother’s family.

“I believe they lured him with an offer for a drink,” Danish said. When Siraj didn’t come home, the family began to worry. “The next morning, we went to the boys’ house because we had seen them leave with my uncle. They started abusing us.”

Danish recounted that the boys said to his father, Siraj’s brother: “Stop looking for Siraj or face the same fate.”

The local police told them that Siraj’s body was found two days later, Danish said, the head appeared to have been crushed by a large boulder, his fingers were broken, and there were bruises all over his body.

The incident happened in May, and an FIR for culpable homicide was filed against the men.

“They claim that an argument over a cylinder escalated into a physical altercation, which they said led to his fall and death,” Danish explains why murder charges were not brought up against the men.

The incident has created an atmosphere of fear and tension not only for their family but also for other Muslim families in the neighbourhood. “Lives are lost and nothing is done because people know there is no justice for Muslims. That’s why they feel emboldened to commit such acts repeatedly.”

A day before Eid, on Chaand Raat, another man in Danish’s neighbourhood was allegedly shot by relatives of the same accused over an argument about 50 rupees.

In another incident in Kushinagar last December, a group assaulted two Muslim youths— stripped them naked, slapped, kicked, and beat them with belts and canes. One of them was forced into a pond of cold water in the extreme cold, posing a serious risk to his life. Although the victims survived, they sustained major injuries. The group recorded the incident and shared the video on various social media platforms, which further exacerbated the victims’ humiliation.

According to an APCR report, the father of one the victims, filed a complaint with Ramkola Police Station on December 27, detailing the horrific incident. The police only took action after a video on social media drew public attention.

The police subsequently filed a case against six individuals. However, APCR reports that the FIR was altered three times since its initial filing. “This has raised suspicions of an attempt to mitigate the charges against the accused. No arrests have been made, indicating a potential bias in favour of the accused,” the report states.

Human rights activist and National Secretary of Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) Nadeem Khan says the conviction rate in lynching cases has been significantly low with only a handful of convictions.

Nadeem Khan believes poor investigation, hostile witnesses due to fear and no specific law against lynching are some reasons why the perpetrators roam free.

According to APCR, between June 7 and July 5, 12 people across India were killed by lynching. The reasons are varied—from suspicion of cow slaughter to alleged theft and dacoity.

In the case of 23-year-old Salman Vohra in Gujarat, he was beaten up by a “pro-Hindutva crowd” because they were “angered by the (good) performance of Muslim men in a cricket tournament,” as per a report by The Wire.

In Aligarh, Mohd Fareed was beaten to death by a communally-charged mob on June 18 that forced him to chant Jai Shree Ram, according to a fact-finding report by the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and the All India Central Council of Trade Unions. He was then identified as Muslim, by removing his pants, alleges his family, and was beaten. He was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries later the same day. Eleven days after his death, him and six other Muslim men were charged under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 395 (dacoity) IPC.

Nadeem Khan says post declaration of the Lok Sabha election results, most cases have come from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. “They are in a mood to give a lesson to the Muslims. They’re punishing Muslims for voting for the INDIA alliance.”

The APCR National Secretary, who has been documenting lynching cases and visiting victims’ families since 2015 believes 90 per cent of these cases are “politically-oriented”.

The rise of hate speeches and extremist content on social media, APCR believes, has led to a rise in the number of cases. And, a new trend has been for the accused to file a counter FIR against the victim to deter victims from reporting incidents.

(This appeared in the print as 'The Age Of Lynching')