Recently, a Muslim man in northern Uttar Pradesh state was beaten to death by suspected members of a right-wing Hindu group for allegedly helping his neighbour elope with a Hindu girl.
Police official Bulandshahar told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday:
“We have already arrested three accused and are looking for others in the case.”
It was confirmed that at least 10 members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, an organization set up by Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2002, were involved in the attack on 59-year-old Ghulam Mohammad, victim’s son explained. He also said that his father didn’t do what he was accused of.
The suspects explained that Mohammad’s neighbor, 19-year-old Yusuf, had allegedly abducted a Hindu girl and eloped with her last week. They accused Mohammad of allegedly helping his neighbour to carry out this act before killing him. It was explained that this killing occurred because they never wanted a Hindu girl to marry a Muslim.
However, the attackers forcefully took Ghulam Mohammad to a secluded place and beat him to death. There was nobody to come to his rescue at the point of death.
“The case of a Hindu girl eloping with a Muslim boy led to religious tension and members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini declared it was Love Jihad,” said Jagdish Sharma, a police officer leading investigations in Bulandshahr district, 70 km (40 miles) to the southeast of India’s capital New Delhi.
“The Muslim farmer was beaten to death in a mango orchard after he refused to share the whereabouts of the couple,” Sharma further explained.
In defence of the situation, the spokesman of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, P.K. Mall, denied that any members of Adityanath’s youth force had been involved in the attack.
“We don’t want Muslims to convert Hindu girls but we are not involved in any criminal activity,” he told Reuters. “There is a clear conspiracy to insult Yogi Adityanath and our religious group.” he further stated. In response to this, the victim’s son has confirmed that it was Hindu group that forcefully took his father who never returned alive.
However, India’s most populous state has experience increase in attacks against Muslims residing in the state after Adityanath took charge as chief minister of the state.
Just last month, it was reported that members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini attacked a muslim couple inside their house in Meerut town, alleging the Muslim man to had forced the Hindu woman to accept Islam as her religion.
The Indian government have been called upon to look into the act of killing Muslims in Uttar. All in the name of protecting a religion, lives have been lost. “This is the right time for love to be shared and accepted amongst every religion. We need to learn to tolerate one another,” an Uttar Muslim said.
