Hindutva mob assaults three minority labourers in Jharkhand

Three Muslim labourers were assaulted on June 6 by a mob of over 30 people affiliated with Hindutva groups solely for their religious identity, in Ranchi’s Namkum area of Jharkhand.

In a video going viral on social media platform X, the Muslim men narrated their experience to local media. According to them, they were taking a lunch break when a few men approached and started questioning them.

“We just came back from the mosque after offering namaz and were resting near our workplace. Suddenly, these men came up to us and asked, ‘Who are you? What are your names? What are you doing here?’ When we told them our names, they had a good look at our kurta pyjama,” said one of the Muslim men.

He said that as soon as the men realised they were Muslims, they forced them to leave the area. The situation quickly escalated as the mob swelled to 30–40 people.

“When we asked them if there was a problem, their leader retorted back in a threatening tone and asked me if I knew who he was. He then asked us to chant Jai Shri Ram, which we flatly refused,” the Muslim man said.

Angered, the men started beating the Muslim workers, alleging they were cow thieves.

The Muslim man managed to escape and alerted his colleagues at the workplace. “When people from my workplace arrived to help, we saw my friends were tied to a tree and mercilessly beaten with sticks. We would have died if our friends had not helped us,” continues the video testimony.

The altercation could have turned fatal for the men involved if not for the intervention.

The Muslim man further alleged that the police failed to address their distress. Their complaints went unheard.

“The police told us we were wrong about being asked to chant Jai Shri Ram. They cut this detail out of the report. But we made them write again and make the correction, even as they accused us of lying and spreading misinformation. They changed all the details of our report,” alleged the Muslim man. 

Despite Siasat.com’s attempts to contact Namkum Police, the authorities did not respond.