New Delhi, India – Sitting exterior his house in a slim lane in India’s capital, Mohammad Wajid recounts the killing of his 22-year-old son to a TV journalist.
Inside, the 4 sisters of Mohammad Ishaq look sullen as they huddle collectively at their dimly lit home in New Delhi’s Sundar Nagri space on Wednesday.
“I’ve misplaced every thing,” Ishaq’s father Abdul Wajid informed Al Jazeera as his eyes welled up with tears and his voice broke.
At round 5am on Tuesday, a mob tied Ishaq to an iron pole with a leather-based belt and beat him up mercilessly on suspicion that he had stolen “prasad”, or a ritualistic providing, at a prayer occasion organised by the world’s Hindus to watch the Ganesh Chaturthi pageant.
The occasion was held three lanes away from Ishaq’s home in Sunder Nagri space of the Indian capital.
“My son was killed as a result of he ate prasad,” Wajid, 60, mentioned. “Those that killed my son discovered it offensive {that a} Muslim touched their prasad.”
Wajid, who sells greens in a pushcart, mentioned his Hindu prospects typically provide him the prasad and he accepts it with out a second thought. “Prasad is a present from bhagwan or Allah. I don’t refuse it.”
Killed ‘for taking a banana’
Ishaq’s sister Uzma informed Al Jazeera her brother was lynched “for taking a banana” and the mob left him tied to the pole after the brutal assault.
“His nails had been damaged, some taken out and his fingers had cuts. He was brutally overwhelmed as a result of he was a Muslim,” she mentioned. “He was unable to talk and his situation was essential.”
Uzma mentioned Ishaq was discovered mendacity on the highway by a boy from their neighbourhood who picked him up and introduced him house. He succumbed to his accidents a number of hours later at his house.
Ishaq’s household mentioned they didn’t take him to hospital. The police mentioned they had been knowledgeable concerning the incident after he had handed away.
As a video of the assault went viral on social media, individuals demanded motion by the police, which registered a case of homicide and arrested six individuals.
“The preliminary inquiry has discovered {that a} group of males stopped him on the suspicion that he was a thief after which they tied and beat him.” Pleasure N Tirkey, the police official within the space, mentioned in a video assertion.
In keeping with the neighbours, Ishaq was mentally challenged. “He was a easy boy who didn’t convey any hurt to anybody,” autorickshaw driver Mohammad Saleem, who lives in the identical lane, informed Al Jazeera.
He mentioned Ishaq would assist everybody within the lane carry their load. “He was a very good boy. He by no means mentioned no. We’d pay him 20 or 50 rupees for the job.”
Wajid needs justice for the killing of his solely son.
“We’re to date happy with the police motion however we would like the boys who killed my son to obtain the identical destiny,” he mentioned.
Assaults and mob lynchings, primarily of Muslims, have been rising in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) got here to energy in 2014. The federal government denies the allegation.
Dozens of Muslims have been lynched or attacked by far-right Hindu mobs over suspicion of killing cows, whose slaughter is banned in most Indian states as a result of some Hindus contemplate cows sacred.
Sharjeel Usmani a New Delhi-based Muslim pupil activist, mentioned Ishaq’s lynching reveals “a darkish actuality a few shift in how a piece of Hindu society practices their faith”.
“Lynching a Muslim has turn into akin to a ritual and that’s one thing Hindu leaders should take into consideration,” he mentioned.
Bano, who goes by one identify and lives in the home reverse Wajid’s, informed Al Jazeera no politician has visited the household to date.
“They’re poor individuals. They need to be helped however we all know nobody will come as a result of we’re Muslim,” she mentioned.
Extra reporting by Sameer Mushtaq
