On social media, a disturbing video shows a young Muslim man in Bihar being assaulted by cow vigilantes. Local media report that the man was allegedly beaten to death and his body buried in a ditch. According to some reports, the assailants used petrol to set fire to the body. They allegedly sprayed salt on the body and buried it to accelerate its decay.
Mohammad Khaleel Alam, a member of the Janata Dal (United) party, can be seen in the video plead to his attackers to spare him.
In the video footage, the attackers, who are not visible, are heard forcing the victim to name people who sell beef and disclose the locations where cows are slaughtered.
Assliants repeadtly asked if he has fed beef to his children and howmuch beef is consumed in the life . He is asked whether the Quran oderds to eat beef and he replies that it does not.
Police have denied the allegations and claim the video was intended as a diversion from an investigation surrounding a murder. It's widely reported as a further incident of bias against Muslims, since the video contains hate speech
In a tweet published late last night, Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of Bihar's opposition, addressed Nitish Kumar over the incident.
बिहार की NDA सरकार में कानून व्यवस्था पूर्णतः समाप्त हो चुकी है। गाय के नाम पर मुस्लिम युवक जो स्वयं JDU नेता था उसे पीट कर, जिंदा जलाकर दफ़ना दिया गया। नीतीश जी बताए, बिहार में लगातार ऐसी घटनाएँ क्यों हो रही है? लोग कानून को हाथ में क्यों ले रहे है? pic.twitter.com/7XjFqYKICY
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) February 22, 2022
"Law and order have completely disappeared under Bihar's NDA government. A Muslim youth who was himself a leader of the JD(U) was beaten, burnt alive and buried. Nitish Kumar should tell us why such incidents keep happening in Bihar. Why are people taking the law into their own hands?" he tweeted in Hindi.
Four days after Mr. Khaleel went missing, his family reported him missing. On Friday evening, the body of Mr Khaleel was discovered on the Burhi Gandak river bank.
On February 16, the victim's family members filed a police report with the local police station. They received calls from her mobile number asking for money for the next few days. The caller claimed that he had borrowed ₹ 5 lakh and threatened to sell his kidney if the family delayed the payment.
On Tuesday, the local police received a video in which he is being asked about cattle smuggling. His body was found buried in the sand on the riverbank on February 19.
However police claimed the video as a distraction to divert attention away from the murder and to give it a communal air.