NEW DELHI: On the night of Holi, an elderly man named Mohammad Anwar was lynched to death at Parsoi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonebhadra district following a dispute over platform (Imam Chowk) used for Muharram.
According to reports, the incident took place on Wednesday, 20th March a day after Anwar had returned from Ajmer Sharif.
A mob of 15 men, 11 of them juveniles allegedly attack 53-year-old Anwar after he intervene them from demolishing the platform used by some villagers to kept tazia.
“On the eve of Holi, some people arrived and started demolishing it again,” alleges the FIR filed by the victim’s son Mohammad Ainul, adding the mob tied a scarf around’s mouth and beat him to death with wooden sticks and an axe when his father tried to stop them.
As per police investigation, a local government school teacher identified as Ravindra Khawar from the tribal community was the main accused of instigating the mob against Anwar.
Khawar, who hails from Ballia has been running a private school adjacent to the government school but few months ago he began running shakhas next to the Muharram Chabutra. Khawar then began instigating the people and get it demolish once.
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“The disputed land belongs to the Gram Sabha and we had intervened some time ago, after which the two sides had reached a compromise,” Sonbhadra District Magistrate Ankit Kumar said.
Naeem Ghazipuri, brother of deceased said that for the past 15-20 years, people from both Hindu and Muslim communities used to keep tazia during Muharram and participate in the procession.
He then allegedly began instigating the children to demolish the platform.
The Uttar Pradesh police arrested seven men, five of them juveniles in connection with the case.
“Initially, 19 people had been named in the FIR and two unknown persons had been made accused. Investigations, however, revealed the role of 15 people, of whom 11 are minors between 13 and 15 years of age,” said Inspector Vijay Pratap Singh, the investigating officer in the case, reported The Print. “A 19-year-old man, Akshay, is the one who hit Anwar on the head with an axe that proved fatal. He is absconding.”
The accused have been booked under various Section of IPC.