Photo: Mohammad Hafiz Saad, was killed by Hindu mob who set fire to Anjuman Jama Mosque in Gurugram, Haryana, India. The 19-year-old was savagely stabbed over a dozen times.
(Photo courtesy of Muslim Mirror)

Shauqueen Mizaj

Muslims in India faced an alarming upsurge of targeted violence unleashed by Hindutva groups during July. Numerous incidents of Muslim homicides and arson attacks on Muslim-owned houses, businesses, and mosques by right-wing factions have unfolded, mirroring a disturbing pattern of state-sanctioned violence.

Armed with sticks, guns, and other weapons, a Hindu mob of over 45 set out for Anjuman Jama Mosque in Gurugram, Haryana, on the night of July 31. The mosque was set ablaze, and its 19-year-old deputy Imam, Mohammad Hafiz Saad of Sitamarhi, was brutally stabbed over a dozen times in chest, abdomen, and limbs. and had his throat slit before succumbing to his injuries.

The senior Imam, who was not present at the time of the attack said there were five people on the premises when it was attacked. “The mob got hands on Saad and Khursheed Ahmed, 52, who were asleep in a room outside the main structure. Mohammad Shahabuddin, 60, cleaner Mahmood, 39, and guard Izhar, 36, were in office and managed to flee,” said Mufti Shahnawaz Mohammad.

Tension gripped the region after a Hindutva procession caused a communal flare-up. The arson continued into the next day, with the mob torching several Muslim-owned shops in Gurugram.

The mosque, attacked by miscreants, from a neighbouring village a few weeks earlier, is the sole one on government-allotted land in the city’s planned urban expansion, serves nearly half of its municipal area. It spans across the south and east zones, with a large section of the floating population commuting to the Millennium City daily for work, according to a report by The Hindu in 2021.

In a separate shocking incident, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable, Chetan Singh, 33, from Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, shot dead assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena, 57, and three Muslim passengers onboard the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express in the early hours of July 31.

After killing his superior, the constable fatally shot a bearded and visibly Muslim man, Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, 60, who was travelling in the same carriage. He then walked down the vestibule, past four carriages, until he came upon another visibly Muslim passenger in the pantry car, Sadar Mohammed Hussain. After killing Hussain, the constable strolled further through two more carriages, killing Asghar Abbas Shaikh, 48.

To prove his mental instability, Singh underwent a full psychological assessment, and the possibility of a hate crime motive was ruled out based on the Hindu faith of his first victim. However, passenger-recorded video of Singh’s murderous frenzy suggested an anti-Muslim motive.

The viral video showed the bloodied body of a man who was shot lying at his feet while Singh delivered a communal diatribe mentioning Pakistan, the media, the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and the founder of the far-right Shiv Sena Party, Bal Thackeray. “If you want to vote, if you want to live in India, then I say, [Narendra] Modi and Yogi Adityanath, these are the two,” he is heard saying in Hindi.

Not one passenger tried to stop him during his slow charge, during which he unleashed 12 rounds from his service rifle, but many recorded the incident on their phones. The incident was branded “unfortunate” by a junior railway official of India’s Western Railways. Neither the Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, nor any other senior government official made a statement on the incident, widely viewed as a hate crime.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, “This is a terror attack that specifically targeted Muslims. It is the product of continuous anti-Muslim hate speech & unwillingness of @narendramodi to put an end to it”. His tweet was soon blocked in India at the request of the authorities, who also ordered X to block the video of the shooting.

In yet another incident, communal violence erupted in Haryana’s Nuh district on July 31 after a few allegedly pelted stones at a provocative Hindutva procession by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its militant youth wing, the Bajrang Dal. The procession was initiated by the VHP three years ago to revive Hindu sites in the Muslim-majority district.

In the clashes that ensued, six were killed, over 100 were injured, and vehicles and properties of Muslims worth crores, were torched. In the days following the clashes, rumours of all kinds spread like wildfire. The Hindutva mob carrying swords and lathis vandalised several properties owned by the Muslims in Nuh, including shops, businesses, and houses.

Even the shanties lacking fundamental amenities, inhabited by Muslim migrants who worked odd jobs, were not exempt from the attacks. The trigger for the violence is said to have been a video of Monu Manesar, a Bajrang Dal member and cow vigilante, infamous for his videos of anti-Muslim violence.

He was booked for the murder of two Muslim men, whose charred bodies were found in the Bhiwani district in February. He had appealed to his followers to join the Hindutva rally in the Mewat district, renamed Nuh in 2016, which he would also be a part of.

Three days after the violence, the district administration carried out a demolition drive, targeting properties that the authorities said were “illegal encroachments”, while the residents say that they were not served any prior notices. The bulldozers rolled for four continuous days, razing the structures, both temporary and permanent, which were mostly owned by Muslims, many of them landless and poor and working as daily wage labourers.

The demolition drive continued until the Punjab and Haryana court ordered a stay on the demolitions in the district. As per demolition records, the district administration demolished 1,208 structures in 11 towns and hamlets in Nuh, according to The Hindustan Times.

Religious polarisation has permeated the fabric of the nation. There was limited public response when the RCF constable walked from carriage to carriage and shot dead his fellow passengers on a running train because of their religious identity. It’s possible to imagine that if the roles were reversed, the intensity of the public reaction might have been greater. These occurrences perpetuate a sense of fear among a particular community, given the current political climate in the country. It’s, therefore, important for the government to address the concerns of minorities and provide reassurance to all citizens.

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