Recently, a video went viral showing two Indian policemen beating a group of Muslim protestors.
A member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shalabh Tripathi, first shared the video. The caption for the video was “a return gift for the rebels“.
During the video, Muslim men are seen crying out for mercy and begging the police not to beat them. They were saying, “Please, it hurts, no sir, no sir.“
24-year-old Saif appears in the video wearing a white coat. The Muslim man was detained along with dozens of others last week.
Last Friday, he left home around 5 p.m. local time to book a bus ticket for a friend before being arrested by police, according to his family. Saif wasn’t even involved in the protest, and they said he was innocent. The video has not been responded to by party officials.
Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, members of the BJP, made inflammatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad that triggered violent protests across India last Friday. Jindal was expelled and Sharma suspended.
In Ranchi, eastern India, last Friday, two teenagers were killed by police who opened fire on Muslim protestors. The Hindu community also protested. Both police and rioters could have been involved.
Authorities demolished the homes of a few protesters in Saharanpur.
At the moment, the ruling party has asked its members not to mention religion in public, but experts say that this controversy has only muddied the waters both domestically and internationally for India.
