Days after a Muslim boy was mercilessly thrashed for drinking water in a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, a similar incident has been reported from another city of the same state ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I had gone to do some menial work. First, they were nice to me. In the two rounds of the work, they treated me well. After the third round, they asked me about the amount to be paid. I told them Rs. 460. They told me to come inside the temple and collect money. Before giving money, they asked my name. I said my name is Danish. They asked are you Muslim? I said yes I’m a Muslim. At this, they locked the main gate, tied me and started beating me up with a rod and pipe…Two people beat me up and there was a Maharaj-Ji. The Maharaj-Ji was asking them to stop and wait for others to come”
A Muslim labourer who went to work at a temple in Etawah is reported to have been tied and beaten up by two people on Tuesday, March 16 at Pitambara Mata Mandir.
The previous incident happened on March 12 when brute force was used against a 13-year-old boy for no reason except that he was a Muslim.
Danish, the latest victim in Etawa, says that he was targeted after they came to know his identity. However, the police say the violence was the result of a dispute over labor charges.
Police said that soon after the incident, an FIR was registered under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (wrongful confinement) against Shailendra Singh Verma (44) and Akhil Verma (40). “Both have been arrested and sent to judicial custody,” said the SHO.
Police, however, said that Danish was beaten up over the payment of his wage. “He had gone to drop off some construction material at the temple, where he was beaten up over the money being charged by him.”
After the series of lynching, thrashing, assaulting and harassing Muslims has become normalized, as if the Muslims in India are not as equal as Dasna Temple, head priest Narsinghanand Saraswati or any random Hindu extremists. The series of assaults has created terror and fear among Muslims especially daily wage laborer engaging in everyday work.
The RSS-BJP to an extent has succeeded in portraying Muslims as a second and unequal to Hindu Majority. Here in this country, Hate is openly preached inside the temple, within the premises of households and on the streets. The country is becoming a war zone where a Hindutva goon holds the license to humiliate, assault and thrash any Muslims they wish.
