The increased incidents of Muslim cattle traders being chased, beaten, and lynched are found to be happening with the connivance of the authorities, despite the Supreme Court's order urging the government to take stern action against the culprits to prevent such incidents.
The incident in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur district on early Friday morning, where two Muslim men transporting cattle were allegedly lynched and one was injured, underscores the authorities' reluctance to take stringent action, which is viewed as letting these scoundrels loose and allowing such mobs to enjoy the inhuman act of beating their hapless victims to death.
The deceased, Guddu Khan, 35, and Chand Miya Khan, 23, along with their injured companion, Saddam Qureshi, 23, who was discovered beneath the Mahanadi bridge, were from Uttar Pradesh.
According to The Indian Express, one of the victims, Qureshi, who kept calling his family while being attacked, was heard pleading with his attackers to stop beating him and asking for water.
Such incidents of men being beaten to death show how deeply rooted their sick enjoyment of attacking men is, which is said to be a kind of pleasure for the people engaging in the act, while these culprits often manage to escape the clutches of the law with the alleged help of authorities, further emboldening them to continue their heinous crimes.
Family members of the victims have raised serious allegations regarding the nature of the incident, while the police have stated that an investigation is ongoing. The authorities acknowledge that the victims were being chased by some individuals but have refused to confirm if they were being lynched.
A cousin of Qureshi and Chand claimed that the duo had made frantic phone calls to their family between 2 am and 4 am on the day of the incident, indicating they were being assaulted. According to the cousin, Qureshi made a desperate call lasting 47 minutes during which he was heard pleading for his life and asking for water.
The police said that they found one of the men dead and the other two critically injured. The injured were promptly taken to a hospital in Mahasamund, where one succumbed to his injuries. Qureshi, the sole survivor, is currently receiving medical treatment in a Raipur hospital and remains in critical condition.
According to initial reports, the police were alerted to the incident involving a vehicle found on the bridge with cattle inside. Investigations are ongoing to determine the exact sequence of events that led to the deaths of Guddu and Chand. The police are exploring multiple angles, including the possibility of a mob attack.
Qureshi, a cousin of Chand, and Guddu, a resident of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh, were reportedly transporting cattle when unidentified assailants chased them. The police are waiting for the post-mortem reports to ascertain the cause of death and are examining CCTV footage from the route to gather more evidence.
The Additional Superintendent of Police in Raipur district, Kirtan Rathore, stated that the men were found lying on rocks below the bridge, which stands about 30 feet high. The police are investigating whether the injuries sustained by the victims were solely due to the fall or if they were inflicted prior to the fall.
The injured Qureshi’s statement will be crucial in understanding what transpired, but he is currently in no condition to provide details.
The family alleged that the calls revealed the victims were being interrogated about the source of the cattle and threatened by their assailants. Despite these distressing claims, the police stated they had no information to support the lynching allegation at this stage. The call detail records of the victims will be scrutinized to corroborate the family’s statements, and the police plan to interview family members for further insights, the TIE report said.