After the results of the Lok Sabha elections, there has been an increase in violence and mob lynching against Muslims across the country. Every day, Muslims are being targeted on some pretext or the other. The latest case has now come from Raghoniadiha in Koderma district of Jharkhand, where Imam Maulana Shahabuddin, who was returning home on a motorcycle, was beaten to death by a mob. The mob accused him of killing a woman on the road.
Shahabuddin’s son Muhammad Parvez Alam said that his father, who worked as an Imam and taught children in Barkada in Hazaribagh district, was travelling on his two-wheeler to Basrao on June 30, 2024 at around 8 am when Anita Devi, a resident of Khathari, was travelling on her two-wheeler. Shahabuddin’s bike reportedly collided with an auto near Gathari Karia, causing injuries to his hand and nose.
Anita Devi’s husband Mahendra Chaddha and her brother-in-law Ramdev Yadav, other local residents and boys playing cricket nearby gathered at the spot. Despite Anita Devi’s alleged appeals to the mob not to kill Shahabuddin, they continued to attack him and beat him with sticks and rods.
Parvez Alam said, ‘His nose was bleeding, but he had no external injuries, it was probably internal bleeding. We want the authorities to investigate the matter.’
Suraj Das, a local leader of All India Majlis Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM), said, ‘The woman who was hit by the motorcycle was pleading with the mob not to kill the maulana, but they kept beating him. The woman was not seriously injured, but the mob beat him because he was a Muslim, they must have seen him wearing a skullcap and beard.
Meanwhile, the police have rejected allegations of mob violence and said they reached the spot after Maulana Shahabuddin was injured and bleeding.
We took him to the hospital in a police vehicle, where he later succumbed. His body was sent for post-mortem, a police officer said.
