A 35-year-old- man was allegedly lynched in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district this week over the suspicion of theft. 22 injuries on different parts of the body, a fractured skull, three broken ribs, and a ruptured lung led to his death.
On the complaint of the man’s brother, the police have lodged an FIR over the alleged lynching and have arrested six people so far. The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Farid alias Aurangzeb.
Rumours of theft
Despite being a communally sensitive locality with a mixed population, Aligarh’s Mamu-Bhanja area, which falls under Gandhi Park police station, was drenched in post-Eid festivities until late on Tuesday evening. Then rumours of a theft at the house of cloth merchant Mukesh Chand Mittal spread like wildfire. The family members and locals allegedly held 35-year-old Aurangzeb over suspicions and beat him mercilessly.
“Over the suspicion of theft, people thrashed my brother mercilessly with sticks and iron rods. They dragged him all over. They treated my brother like an animal,” said Mohammed Zaki, younger brother of Aurangzeb.
It was only after the intervention of the police that the man could be freed and he was sent to hospital where he died.
Zaki accused the family members of the cloth merchant and the locals of lynching. He said that the incident was a reminder of the 2015 Dadri lynching case in UP when a mob of villagers attacked the home of 52-year-old Mohammed Akhlaq, killing him, for suspicion of slaughtering a cow.
“An FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) was registered at the Gandhi Park police station late on Tuesday night in this connection. So far we have arrested six persons named in the FIR and are trying to identify others involved in the incident through available video footage,” said Mrigank Shekhar Pathak, superintendent of police, Aligarh city.
According to the police, the man was attacked after he was seen coming out of the home of the cloth trader and running towards the main gate on the night of June 18. As Mittal’s son Rohit, who had stepped out to see off a visiting friend, confronted the stranger and raised an alarm, Aurangzeb fell off the stairs and was soon overpowered by members of the family and others who assembled there, the police said.
Some videos, possibly Aurangzeb’s last, where people can be seen questioning him and assaulting him, also went viral on social media on Wednesday. “We are scanning the social media videos. Identification is being done to identify the culprits involved in the act of lynching,” said the Aligarh SP.
Post-mortem findings
A panel of two doctors conducted Aurangzeb’s post-mortem. According to the report, there were a total of 22 injuries on different parts of his body including his head, chest, and other body areas. Of all, the most serious injuries, possibly incurred while being beaten with sticks and rods, were on his chest area. It was found that there was a fracture in the skull and three of his ribs were broken, which further ruptured the lungs, possibly leading to internal bleeding that could have led to Aurangzeb’s death.
Aurangzeb was the second eldest brother among eight siblings (five sisters and three brothers), said younger brother Zaki. He said his eldest brother Gulzar is married and is settled in Faridabad along with his family, while two sisters are dead, and three are married. “Aurangzeb Bhai used to take care of me and my mother who is paralysed. My father died almost two decades back,” Zaki said.
Zafar Akhtar, former area corporator also said that Aurangzeb was lynched. “The UP government is known for taking stern action against criminals. We expect unbiased action in the matter,” Akhtar said.
However, the viral videos, which were said to be from hours before Aurangzeb’s death, further sparked communal tensions in the area, after which people from both communities came out on the roads. While one group demanded justice in the matter, the people of the other group strongly opposed the police action. Some people also allegedly pelted the police with stones when officials reached the spot in a bid to ease the situation.
“Over the suspicion of theft, a 35-year-old man was assaulted by the public and later died. It further sparked communal tension in the area after which the ‘sector scheme’ was implemented. The entire city was divided into 11 sectors. We have deployed three companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), one company of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), and personnel from three police stations in the area,” said Sanjeev Suman, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Aligarh.
Politics proliferates
The incident also turned political when people from the Samajwadi Party (SP) staged a demonstration, demanding action on the matter. “An innocent man has been lynched by members of a different community and others who painted him as a thief, while the fact is that he had mistakenly entered the house. The incident highlights the plight of the minority communities in the state. We have called for a sit-in and will intensify our protest if all those named in the FIR are not arrested soon,” said Ajju Ishaq, an SP leader.
At the same time, dozens of Bajrang Dal volunteers too thronged the area and claimed that the deceased had entered the house to steal.
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