17-year-old Yogesh Jatav

After an ordeal of three days, 17-year-old Yogesh Jatav succumbed to his injuries. Jatav, a Hindu minor from the Dalit community, had accidentally brushed a Muslim woman while riding on his bike on September 15 in Alwar, Rajasthan. As per reports, he was trying to evade a pothole and inadvertently hit a Muslim woman on his way. There have been no reports of the woman being injured in the incident. But within minutes, an enraged mob appeared at the spot and charged at the boy with sticks and iron rods.

He was mercilessly beaten by the mob and had blood gushing out of his ears by the time help arrived. Yogesh was rushed to a nearby hospital; he went into a coma on the day of the attack itself. He was later shifted to a Jaipur-based SMS hospital, but passed away on the 18th. His body was handed over to his family for the last rites the following day, after completing the post-mortem formalities.

The bereaved family, however, refused to cremate Yogesh until his perpetrators were detained. Joined by other villagers, they staged a protest and blocked the Alwar-Bharatpur road. Officials rushed to the site to convince the protestors to end the protest and clear the road. The villagers agreed to cremate the body after an assurance of strong action against those who killed the boy, and cleared the blockade.

The family had already registered a complaint at the local police station on September 16. The father of the victim had named “Rashid, Sajeet Pathan, Mubina with four others” as the perpetrators in his statement. Investigations are underway. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has sent a notice to the Superintendent of Police, Alwar, seeking a detailed report on police action in this matter.

However, what is baffling is the brazen hypocrisy of the left-liberal clique, politicians of the “secular” parties and the media at large. Those who had once dubbed India “Lynchistan” after prosecuted cattle smugglers and thieves from Muslim communities were attacked by locals have maintained a deliberate silence regarding this incident.

Leading newspapers have craftily concealed the names of the attackers. Randeep Surjewala, spokesperson of the state’s ruling Congress party, brushed off the lynching as just another crime that could happen anywhere, without acknowledging it as a hate crime or admitting that the victim was targeted for his religious identity.

This is not the first time Hindu men from the Dalit community have been massacred by unruly Muslim mobs in Alwar. Back in 2019, in a similar incident, 28-year-old Harish Jatav was hounded by a Muslim crowd led by Umer Sher. Harish had unintentionally hit Umer’s sister while riding his bike.

No major injury to the Muslim woman was reported, but Harish was mercilessly beaten, which led to him bleeding profusely by the time police got to him. Harish had no criminal record. A truck driver by profession, father to four daughters and son to a blind father, he was a decent man of limited means.

In July 2021, Krishna Valmiki, another Hindu youth from the marginalized community, was ambushed and battered to death by Muslim goons. The police of the state run by a “secular government” allegedly tried to shield the attackers by not charging them under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of the Indian Penal code.

Instead, they assaulted social activists who were protesting Valmiki’s brutal murder. Ironically, the state government had passed the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill in 2019. We wonder what changes this bill has brought to the mob culture of the state.

However, Muslim mobs ganging up to attack a lone individual are not limited to Rajasthan; such occurrences are common throughout India.

In April of this year, Ashwini Kumar, a 50-year-old policeman on duty, was lynched to death by a homicidal mob in West Bengal’s Panjipara area. The mastermind of the plot, Mohammad Israel, had instigated and gathered the mob by using a local mosque’s loudspeakers.

A vegetable vendor, Sanatan Deka, was lynched to death by Shabir Ali, Yusub Ali, Lajlil Ali and Firzahan Ali, who were led by Faizul Ali in Assam’s Kampur district during the lockdown last year, after the Deka’s bicycle hit the gang’s car.

A bloodthirsty Muslim mob dragged Rinku Sharma out of his residence in the capital city and stabbed him to death, but not before vandalizing his house and beating his family members. The 25-year-old had invited the wrath of these Muslims by merely collecting donations for the Ram Mandir (the temple dedicated to Hindu deity, Ram, to be built at his birthplace, Ayodhya).

These are only a few of the numerous horrific incidents that should have sent shockwaves around the globe; they deserved to be the focus of international headlines.