In a yet another barbaric manifestation of the scourge of anti-Muslim hatred in the country, a Muslim man identified as Shaukat Ali was attacked on Sunday, 7 April, by a terrorist mob for allegedly selling beef in Assam’s Biswanath Chariali.
In a video that surfaced on Facebook, the elderly man can be seen being mercilessly beaten up by a group of men in a market place and questioned on his national identity. In the video, a visually shaken Ali is seen kneeling down in slush, surrounded by a group of terrorists, which demands to know why he was selling beef, and if he was a Bangladeshi.
Muslim Hotel Businessman, Shaukat Ali, in Assam was brutally attacked by an extremist mob, calling him "Bangladeshi" and interrogating him of his NRC status (citizenship). #India pic.twitter.com/wweR1vsUmv
— DOAM (@doamuslims) April 8, 2019
Reportedly, the terrorist mob allegedly also forced Ali to consume pork.
An FIR has been filed against “unknown miscreants” based on a complaint filed by one of Ali’s relatives. Biswanath district police chief Rakesh Roushan, however, said it was “not a matter of communal tension”. “The miscreants misbehaved with not only him but also another person of a different community,” said Roushan.
The Assam Cattle Preservation Act of 1950 allows the slaughter of cattle over 14 years of age or those incapable of work or for use in breeding. The law requires that such cattle will be given a “fit-for-slaughter certificate” by a doctor of the state husbandry and animal welfare department.
The attack shows the worsening situation for Muslims in India, under the current political dispensation. According to Amnesty India, in 2018 alone, 218 cases of hate crimes were reported in India, of which 50 such incidents were against Muslims.
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Shaik Zakeer Hussain is the Founder and Editor of The Cognate.
