Jharkhand police ‘tortures’ Muslim youth to death, Twitter users ask if Modi’s culture minister will visit him

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JKR Staff
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Social media users have erupted in anger on the report that a Muslim youth was brutally ‘tortured’ by police in BJP-ruled Jharkhand after cops arrested him for a beef-related message on WhatsApp.

Many are asking if his body too should be draped in tricolour and his family be given Rs 25 lakh compensation just like the family of one of the Dadri murder accused Ravi.

Ravi’s family was given Rs 25 lakh and his body was kept draped in tricolour until the Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma had visited the village in Dadri pay his ‘respect’ to the departed soul. The photo of Sharma folding his hands before Ravi’s dead body had gone viral on social media platforms.

Others have questioned the general treatment of Muslims in a what’s now being termed as BJP’s India.

22-year-old Minhaz Ansari had died in police custody on Sunday.

According to media reports, 22-year-old Minhaz Ansari died on Sunday and his police allege he was tortured to death by cops during his custody.

What caused local journalists to suspect Mihaz’s death was the reluctance shown by local cops in showing Minhaz’s face when they arrived at the police station.

When Minhaz was shown to the media on Tuesday last week, he was slumped against a wall and his face covered with a cloth, reported NDTV (see photo below).

Police had also struggled to explain the circumstances leading to his arrest. Minhaz’s condition had raised suspicion that he may have been brutally tortured, prompting the cops to hide his face from the media glare.

One report said that Minhaz was not able to walk because of continuous beating even when he was being shown to media.

Indian Express reported that the WhatsApp message that prompted police to arrest Minhaz was had started doing the rounds in Dighari village of Narayanpura, in Jamtara district, on 2 October. Minhaz was reportedly the creator of the said WhatsApp group.

Though police have denied the allegations of excesses, they’ve now admitted that there were prima facie lapses on the part of the officer-in-charge of Narayanpura police station, Sub-Inspector Harish Pathak.

He has been suspended and an FIR of murder has been registered against him.

 

The news of Minhaz’s death in a state that saw public hanging of two Muslim cattle traders including a 12-year-old earlier this year has generated considerable social media buzz.

In March this year, two Muslim cattle traders were lynched to death by men belonging to right-wing Hindutva group.

They were killed while on their way to a local Friday market in Jharkhand when they were mercilessly beaten up before being hanged to death from a tree.

The incident took place on early hours at Balumath forests in Latehar district, 100km from Ranchi.

Police had later arrested five people in connection with the gruesome murder. The murder accused had confessed to their crime and given the chilling accounts of how they planned and executed the murder.

Minhaz Ansari was a top Twitter trend all throughout Wednesday evening.

Here are some social media reaction: