New Delhi: Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has expressed concerns over the growing hate crimes against Muslims and Dalits after the Lok Sabha elections.

In a press statement, JIH Vice President Engineer Mohammad Salim has said that the escalation of the crime against Dalits and the minority community across the country is a cause concern, despite the positive and optimistic statement of the Prime Minister.

Here are a few examples of the increasing hate crimes against Muslims and Dalits:

On 22 May 2019, a Muslim couple and their Hindu friends were assaulted by a gang of self-styled cow vigilantes and forced to chant Jai Shri Ram for allegedly carrying beef in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh.

On May 25, 2019, Mohammad Barkat was reportedly assaulted in Gurugram, Haryana. He was asked by the goons to remove his skullcap and chant Jai Shri Ram when he was returning from Tarawih prayer (special night prayers in Ramazan).

On the same day, in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, three self-styled “gau rakshaks” entered a dairy owned by Usman Qureshi in Gokul Nagar area, accusing the people in the shop, of cow slaughtering and selling beef. They assaulted them and vandalized the shop.

On 26 May 2019, street vendor Mohammad Qasim was shot at in Begusarai, Bihar because he was a Muslim. Attacker Rajiv Yadav opened fire at him saying he should live in Pakistan.

On 30 May 2019, a Dalit man was lynched in Singampalli village of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly plucking mangoes from an orchard belonging to an ‘upper caste’ man. Later, the murder was tried to project as suicide.

Just less than a week after the horrific incident of hate crime in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district, another incident surfaced in the state’s Rajgarh district on 31 May. Sameer Ullah, a resident of village Kotri-Kalan in Kurawar town of Rajgarh, was beaten up with batons and empty cold drink bottles because he had asked shop owner Rinku Mishra for a phone-box after buying a new mobile. Sameer sustained serious injuries on his head and limbs.

On 29 May 2019, four people were thrashed for allegedly eating meat in a Bareilly temple premises in Uttar Pradesh. In a viral video, it is appearing that four people are taking lunch in a temple premises, and a group is thrashing them mercilessly.
Apart from these, there may be many incidents that could not get a space in the newspapers. This situation and such incidents are not in the interest of a democratic country.

Expressing surprise, Engineer Salim said that it seems that there is no effect of the Prime Minister’s statement on such anti national and anti social elements. “The Jamaat demanded that this situation should be curbed promptly and legal action should be taken against the criminals without any discrimination for restoring peace and amity in the country. So that a message from the government should be conveyed that lawbreakers belong to any community, would not be tolerated, anymore. The supremacy of the constitution and the law of the country should be maintained at any cost. It is a big challenge for the government to establish the rule of law. Without this, the country cannot move forward on the path of development,” he added.

Issued by:

Media Department

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind