Even amidst the pandemic and lockdown, Muslims in India are being subjected to injustice, lynching, discrimination and abhorrence. Islamophobia in India is inescapable.
Currently, the whole world is united owing to COVID-19 and struggling to win this battle. To prevent the spread and escape of the proliferating virus, India is in lockdown. While India’s lockdown has led to a decrease in pollution levels and improved quality of water bodies, the social environment in India is turning poisonous and lethal.
In fact, incidents happening across the country are demonstrating that the communal virus is more perilous than COVID-19, which has enrooted faster than the coronavirus. Although there are plenty of such cases all over India, I will mention three incidents from the mineral-rich state of Jharkhand.
30-year-old pregnant Rizwana Khatun was beaten and abused by the hospital workers. Her condition deteriorated, and she gave birth to a stillborn child. She was subjected to harassment and denied medical assistance because she was a Muslim. Raju Ansari of Ramgarh district was lynched because he was identified as a Muslim. Nasim Khan, a vegetable vendor in Jamshedpur, was stopped from selling vegetables when a group of men learned about his religious identity.
One thing was common amongst all three: they were abhorred for being Muslim and accused of spreading the coronavirus in India. Interestingly, there is not even a single coronavirus case in Jamshedpur and Ramgarh districts.
Pregnant Woman Beaten For Being Muslim
After learning about pregnant Rizwana being Muslim, the hospital worker abused, beat and accused her of spreading coronavirus.
On April 16, at 1 a.m., she went to the hospital with her brother due to sudden bleeding. She reached the Government MGM Hospital in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. She continued to bleed in the labour room and bled on the floor. The hospital employee present there asked for her name, and on hearing it, the employee accused her community of spreading the coronavirus and abused her. The hospital employee asked her to clean the blood on the floor.
Upon this, the victim, Rizwana told the nurse that she was not in a state to stand and wouldn’t be able to clean. She pleaded them to call her mother as her condition deteriorated. Rizwana was beaten and harassed by the employee. Rizwana’s brother, Mohammad Meraj, reached the spot and protested against this.
He said, “Seeing the blood spread on the ground, an employee in the labour room asked my sister to clean it. My sister said that her condition was not good, and asked them to call someone from the family. The employee denied medical assistance and abused my religion. Seeing all this, at first I protested but looking at my sister’s unconscious state, I thought it was better to take her to another hospital where she would be treated.”
Mohammed Shamim, Rizwana’s husband, with tears in his eyes, said that his wife’s condition deteriorated due to the negligence of the hospital staff; there was no treatment in the labour room for half an hour and the bleeding continued. The condition of his wife deteriorated, and the baby died. His wife is better than before; but a life that was in the womb, before opening to the world, was turned off.
“Despite permission to have two ladies with the patient, we were evicted from the ward. My daughter was not treated inside the ward, and whatever happened is wrong, it should never happen to anyone,” said Razia Khatoon, mother of Rizwana.
“We have not yet investigated. All things will be known only after the investigation. Anyone can be accused, anyone can accuse. It’s easy to be accused or get accused. The only thing that matters now is the truth,” said Dr N. K. Chaudhary, Deputy Superintendent.
A Man Lynched For Being Muslim
India’s state of Jharkhand has witnessed not one, not two, but dozens of mob lynching cases. The horrifying memories of the Tabrez Ansari mob lynching case were not yet blurred, when, once again, a mob hunted a Muslim figure.
In the Giddi police station area of Hazaribagh district, a man named Raju Ansari was beaten severely on charges of theft. Oddly enough, when the police arrived, instead of taking action against the mob, they were seen interacting sympathetically with the miscreants. The police was also seen manhandling the victim without clothes.
The incident occurred on the night of April 18. Raju went to his in-laws house in Giddi of Hazaribagh. The region comes under Ramgarh, Patratu police station area. According to Raju’s father, Ali Jaan Ansari, when Raju was returning from his in-laws after meeting his pregnant wife, his bike ran out of petrol.
It was almost 11 o’clock at night. He stopped in search of a fuel station when a group of men asked his name. As soon as he told them his name, they started beating him. The video of this incident circulated wherein the crowd is seen abusing Raju, calling him the country’s malevolence and accusing him of spreading the coronavirus.
Senior journalist Ravi Prakash gave this information to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The Chief Minister took swift steps and saved Raju’s life. But he is still badly injured.
“As soon as they heard Raju’s name, they started beating and calling him a thief. He was beaten up naked even in front of the police. My son kept saying that he was innocent, but they did not listen. The police also took Raju without clothes,” said Ali Jan Ansari.
On being accused of theft, in Patratu, the regional police station where Raju’s house comes under, the police station in-charge, Adil Hussain, was asked about this. He said that Raju had no criminal background, and that he was a labourer in a brick kiln.
“Raju is admitted in RIMS Hospital in Ranchi. The Superintendent of Police spoke to Raju over the phone. He asked where the injury was. My brother said, ‘Sir, ask me where there isn’t an injury’,” said Shamsher Ansari, Raju’s brother.
Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police, Mayur Patel Kanhaiya Lal, said that an FIR had been registered, and four people had been arrested. The remaining accused were being searched for. However, the SP refused to consider it a case of mob lynching since no one died.
30-year-old pregnant Rizwana Khatun was beaten and abused by the hospital workers. Her condition deteriorated, and she gave birth to a stillborn child. She was subjected to harassment and denied medical assistance because she was a Muslim. Raju Ansari of Ramgarh district was lynched because he was identified as a Muslim. Nasim Khan, a vegetable vendor in Jamshedpur, was stopped from selling vegetables when a group of men learned about his religious identity.
One thing was common amongst all three: they were abhorred for being Muslim and accused of spreading the coronavirus in India. Interestingly, there is not even a single coronavirus case in Jamshedpur and Ramgarh districts.
A Vendor Disallowed From Setting Shop Because He Was A Muslim
On April 22, a vegetable vendor named Naseem Khan set up his shop in the vegetable market near the Ghodabandha residence of Union Minister Arjun Munda. According to Naseem, a group of young men, including Ashish Paul, came and asked his name. As soon as the vegetable seller said Naseem Khan, they started threatening him and removing everything. They accused him of spreading the virus and threatened to kill him if he set up his shop there in the future.
Shortly after the incident, the victim reached the Govindpur police station in the area to lodge an FIR. Naseem said that, “I used to earn some money by running my tempo before the lockdown. During the lockdown, the tempo stopped running. So did my income; I set up a shop and started selling vegetables in the vegetable market near Union Minister Arjun Munda’s residence since the past 10 days.”
All three cases highlight violence against a particular community. Today, there are innumerable cases across India in which poor Muslims are being accused of spreading the coronavirus by propagating Islamophobia and ‘polluting’ the clean social environment.