UP: Muslim Man Beaten to Death for ‘Relationship with Hindu Girl’

A 25-year-old Muslim youth was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar district allegedly over his relationship with a Hindu girl. Three people have been arrested in the incident, police confirmed on Monday.

The deceased has been identified as Abdul Baari, a native of Hathinaraj village.

The incident occurred on November 29 at night in Maraucha village under Baskhari Police Station limits when Abdul Baari was on the way to meet the girl. He was surrounded by a few unidentified assailants and beaten to death, police confirmed.

“It was not a case of lynching”, or “a case of Hindu-Muslim enmity”, “but of murder in a love-related matter”. “The youth was in a relationship with a girl and had gone to meet her at around 11 pm in Maraucha. The locals saw him and attacked him, following an argument. A police team reached the spot soon after. The body was sent for postmortem. An FIR has been registered against eight accused and all would be arrested soon,” District SP Virendra Kumar Mishra was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Baari's brother Iqbal said that his brother had gone to look after his business with his helper when the incident happened. “Abdul used to run a fishery business near our village. Like every day, he went to the spot on Friday night along with his helper Abhishek, but in between, a few people caught him on the way and started beating him with sticks and rods. One of them was Monu Yadav. Earlier, Yadav had threatened Baari regarding his business, but we took it lightly. We didn’t know that he will be beaten to death. There were more than five people beating him until he fell unconscious. We came to know at around 1.30 am in the night and when we reached the spot, he was unconscious. We took him to the hospital where he was declared dead,” Iqbal alleged.

He added, “He was not in a relationship with any Hindu girl. Media and administration are trying to communalise this issue so that we do not get justice and his murder could be justified. My brother was lynched due to personal enmity, which is not acceptable. The main culprit is still absconding. The postmortem report confirmed injuries as the cause of death.”

He said that he rushed his brother to two different hospitals, but could not save him.

Baari's helper, Abhishek, who was with him at the spot when incident took place, has reportedly identified the eight accused as Manoj, Pawan, Shivratan, Budhram, Raghuveer, Jawahir, Sher Bahadur and Ram Kewal—all residents of Maraucha village. Budhram, Raghveer and Ram Kewal have been arrested. The FIR has been registered against them under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 302 (murder).