Over 60 Hindutva goons reportedly barged into the house of a Muslim family in a village eight kilometers from Khargone town, Madhya Pradesh, and attacked them with stones as the family was about to break fast for Iftar on Tuesday evening.
The goons that carried spheres broke into the house of 22-year-old Abdul Malik through the back door and pelted stones at the family. The goons that broke into Malik’s house, broke the front and back doors, and pelted stones at his blind father, and his old feeble mother.
“When we sat for iftar, we heard a group of 15 people shouting slogans of Jai Shree Ram outside our house. Soon more people joined them and the crowd increased to over 60 all of them carrying stones and spheres in their hands. They soon started pelting stones at our house,”.
“The goons forced us to chant Jai Shree Ram with them. When we revolted and asked them to make peace with us, they threatened to rape my sister. My uncle is badly injured and has been given 10 stitches on his head, and four below his eye,” stated Malik.
Malik, whose wife is six months pregnant, has claimed that she suffered an injury to her head due to stone-pelting. He also stated that she was kicked on her stomach multiple times. However, a medical report by a local hospital stated that no harm was done to the baby.
“Our house was vandalised and the money my mother had saved for my sister’s wedding was also looted,” said Malik holding back tears.
The country has been witnessing a rise in the number of atrocities against Muslims, especially in the last few months. Several cases of anti-Muslim hate crimes that began from Karnataka since February have now spilled into various parts of the country including MP, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
In MP’s Khargone town, riots broke out during a Ram Navami rally following which Muslims were subject to brutality at the hands of Hindutva goons who danced to provocative communal songs during their aggressive campaign.
It was followed by the demolition of houses belonging to Muslims who have been accused of rioting during the rally. Many victims have also alleged that the Madhya Pradesh government is targeting Muslims who tried to step out of their houses to purchase essentials when the curfew was imposed.
Lynchings to Ram Navami, India’s Muslims now live in fear
Over the last seven years, being a Muslim in India has become more and more difficult. It started with lynchings in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of north India, continued with Muslims being accused of being virus spreaders during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-21), followed by the recent Hijab ban in Karnataka.
And even before things could calm down from all the recent anti-Muslim hate crimes in Karnataka, Hindutva mobs once again unleashed an orchestrated aggressive campaign in many states of India, leading to arson and violence against Muslims.
In most cases, mobs specifically passed via Muslim majority localities and tried to (successfully in some places) intimidate them with hateful chants. In some cases, Muslim crowds also retaliated. It may be noted that the Hindutva leaders also chose the evening hours to mobilise crowds when Muslims will be breaking their fast in the month of Ramzan.
This article first appeared on siasat.com