Family Alleges Police Tortured, Killed 21-Year-Old Kashmiri Muslim; Police Deny Allegation
Jammu and Kashmir Police tortured and killed Muslim Muneer Lone, a 21-year-old Kashmiri Muslim, after detaining him for alleged involvement in a theft case. While police have claimed that Lone’s death was due to drug abuse, his family reported that Lone was tortured to the point of losing consciousness. Despite this, police refused to take him to the hospital for medical treatment, leading to his death.
Shafiqa, Lone’s mother, said that Lone had been picked up from his home by police on July 9, claiming that he was being probed for theft and would be released soon. However, that afternoon, police summoned Shafiqa to the station, saying that Lone had lost consciousness.
“The policeman asked me to shift to another vehicle which was parked on the roadside. When I got into the car, I saw Muslim lying on the middle seat. He couldn’t talk… Muslim was unresponsive but they told us that he had lost consciousness,” she said.
“They are trying to cover up the crime,” said Zeeshan, Lone’s cousin, responding to the claim that Lone succumbed due to drug use. “Has the police ever caught him with drugs? There is no police case against him anywhere in Kashmir. They are justifying his death by saying that he was a drug addict. We demand an impartial probe.”
Kashmir remains under the brutal control of the Indian government and military, which has been responsible for the wanton arrests, disappearances, and murder of Kashmiri civilians for decades.
Muslim Journalist And Fact-Checker Mohammad Zubair Jailed In Yet Another Case For Exposing Doctored Image
Yet another judge in Uttar Pradesh state sent Mohammed Zubair, a Muslim journalist who is the co-founder of the fact-checking news site, AltNews, to 14 days judicial custody for tweeting in 2021 that prominent right-wing channel Sudarshan News had broadcast a fake and hateful image.
The clearly doctored image showed Saudi Arabia’s Madina and Muslims’ second-holiest mosque, Masjid an Nabawi, being bombed.
“[Right wing] propaganda channel @SudarshanNewsTV has used a pic of Al Masjid an Nabawi from Madina, superimposed it with an old pic from Ghaza, with graphics bombing the Mosque. Is this reporting or trying to incite violence?” Zubair had tweeted, tagging state police and urging them to take action.
Rather than taking action against Sudarshan News, which is known to broadcast anti-Muslim propaganda and whose editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke is a vocal Hindu supremacist, police arrested Zubair for “promoting enmity between two groups.” The complaint was lodged by Ashish Kumar Katiyar, a reporter for the channel.
This is the fourth set of charges – one for tweeting a Bollywood screenshot, one for false money laundering allegations, one for naming Hindu extremist leaders as hate-mongers, and now one for exposing fake news – lodged against Zubair in the span of two weeks due to complaints by Hindu extremists.
At Hindu Extremist Rally In Support of BJP Leader Nupur Sharma Who Blasphemed Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Participants Threaten Muslims With ‘Final Warning’
Hindu extremist groups chanted violent slogans against Muslims during a rally in the Indian capital of New Delhi, held in support of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson and hatemonger Nupur Sharma, who sparked protest and unrest across India by making blasphemous comments about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
“Today, we have assembled just to give a final warning to the Muslims. If attacks on Hindus happen henceforth, we shall come in huge numbers on the streets and there shall be no more urges for peace,” said Kapil Khanna, Delhi president of the violent Hindu supremacist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
The crowd chanted violent slogans such as, “We shall now bear swords if required,” and “When [Hindus] walk out of our holy place, we have [gifts] and flowers in our hands. When [Muslims] walk out of their mosques and madrasas, they have stones and swords.”
Other speakers at the rally referred to Muslims as “freeloaders” and “unfaithful to the country,” and claimed the entire Muslim community was responsible for the brutal murder of a Hindu tailor who supported Sharma.
A Hindu journalist covering the rally for the YouTube channel Janhit Awaz tweeted that she had been harassed by the protesters, who crowded around her and demanded that she chant “Jai Sri Ram,” or “Glory to Lord Ram,” to prove that she was Hindu.
“My name is Pooja I am a journalist, today I am feeling insecure even after being a #Hindu. I was forcibly asked to chant #JaiShriRam, I was surrounded from all sides. Even journalists feel insecure & unsafe during any such coverage,” she tweeted, along with a video of the harassment.
