Social media has recently been stirred up by a disturbing video that shows a Muslim man being beaten to death by assailants claiming to be cow vigilantes in Bihar.
Local media reported that he was beaten to death, and then the assailant tried to set his body on fire by dousing him with petrol. Some reports claim that they continued by spraying salt on his body before burying him to decay faster.
The victim, identified as Mohamad Khaleel Alam, a member of the Janata Dal (United) party from Samastipur district, is seen in the video pleading with folded hands for the assailant to release him. However, the assailant, whose face is not visible in the video footage, mercilessly forced the victim to reveal where the cow was slaughtered and mention the names of the people involved in selling beef.
They also asked him how much beef he has consumed in his life and whether or not he fed it to his child. They questioned him on whether the Quran instructs Muslims to consume beef, to which the poor man replies that it doesn’t.
The video, which was thick with hate speech, was widely circulated along with other hate crime incidents against Muslims. Unfortunately, the local police denied the allegations, saying it was just a diversionary tactic to cover the murder.
By tweeting a Hindi news clipping, Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav also regretted the incident. In the Hindi-language tweet, he also slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying that Nitish is responsible for explaining why such incidents keep happening in Bihar.
On Friday evening, February 19th, Khaleel’s dead body was found on the bank of the Burhi Kadak river, where he was buried in the sand.
Earlier, the victim’s family member filed a missing person report on February 16th. But strangely, they continue to receive calls from the victim’s cell phone number asking for money. The caller admitted that he had borrowed ₹ 5 lakh and threatened to sell the victim’s kidney if the family did not provide the funds.
Local police received video footage of the victim being questioned about his role in cattle smuggling. However, the police claim that this video was taken only to divert attention and give a communal color to the murder.
