TWO CLERICS ASSAULTED IN RANCHI FOR ALLEGEDLY REFUSING TO CHANT JAI SHRI RAM
RANCHI: Two cleric brothers were brutally assaulted when they were returning home after offering Travih prayers on Sunday night in Ranchi. A group of 20-25 people confronted the brothers in Agru village around 10 PM, hurled communal abuses at them and allegedly asked them to chant Jai Shri Ram. When they refused to chant, they were brutally assaulted.
According to local human rights lawyer Shadab Ansari, Maulana Azharul Islam and his brother Maulana Imran were returning after offering Travih prayers in Agru village. They were on a bike and riding towards their home in Naya Sarai village. It was round 10 PM when they were stopped by Scorpio-borne 20 people near Daladali Chowk. Hurling casteist and communal abuses at them, they started beating the two brothers.
“They asked them to chant Jai Shri Ram. When they refused to do so, they were assaulted with lathi and hockey sticks. One brother (Maulana Imran) managed to flee but Maulana Mazharul Islam was brutally assaulted by the mob,” said Adv. Ansari.
Talking to
Caravan Daily over phone from Ranchi, Adv. Ansari said he is contacting the family of the victims to know if they filed an FIR or not. He has also sent his associate to the hospital.
He was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition. As he could not get proper treatment there, he was taken to Ranchi Medical College and Hospital.
After the incident, the Ranchi Police is said to have launched combing operation to nab the attackers. SSP Prabhat Kumar has assured that the accused will be arrested.
For past one year, the BJP-ruled Jharkhand has witnessed sporadic incidents of communal violence at a regular interval.
On 25th May this year, around 20 Muslim families were forced to flee their homes in Koderma district as a mob attacked their homes around Iftar (breaking of fast) in the evening and assaulted several people including women. The mob also ransacked the mosque and assaulted the Muslims who were offering Maghrib prayer there.
On 17th April, in another village of the same Koderma district, a Muslim settlement was attacked by a mob over suspicion of consumption of beef at a wedding party. The father of the bridegroom was brutally assaulted and over two dozen homes of his Muslim neighbors were ransacked.
Besides, in the last couple of years, more than one dozen Muslims have been lynched in the name of cow, beef or child lifting. in the state. In March this year, a fast-track court had awarded life sentence to 11 persons including a BJP leader in the Ramgarh lynching case whereas meat trader Alimuuddin Ansari was lynched in the daylight in June last year.
Jharkhand is going to hold Assembly polls next year. It is likely that the central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would hold Assembly elections in several states, particularly those ruled by BJP, along with the Lok Sabha elections due next year. Five states have scheduled Assembly polls this year and and eight states next year.
In the latest Assembly by-polls, the ruling BJP could not win any seats. Both Gomia and Silli Assembly seats were retained by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which had got support from Congress and RJD. Out of 15 Lok Sabha/Assembly seats that went to polls in 10 states, Congress-led UPA won 12 seats including the high-profile Kairana Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh which was won by BJP in 2014.
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