The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC – iamc.com), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos today condemned yet another barbaric killing of a Muslim, in the heinous murder of Mohammed Farooq, a cleric at Noorani Mosque in Talacheru village in Rajahmundry district of Andhra Pradesh. According to media sources, Mohammed Farooq was bludgeoned to death and was found lying in a pool of blood inside the mosque. In addition, the mosque was desecrated by the attackers who left behind a trail of destruction including burnt pages of the Holy Quran, cigarette butts and signs of urination on the mosque floor.

The year 2017 recorded the highest death toll (11 deaths) and the most number of incidents of hate violence (37 incidents) related to cows and religion since 2010, according to an IndiaSpend database that records cow-related hate crime.

“This murder of an innocent cleric and the desecration of the mosque represents a worsening of the human rights situation of Dalits and minorities in India. We call upon the Andhra Pradesh administration not only to take every step to apprehend the killers of Mohammed Farooq, but also to check the hateful rhetoric and bigotry that enables such senseless and brutal violence” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, the National President of IAMC. “This hate crime is an aberration in an otherwise peaceful Rajahmundry district which has a history of peaceful coexistence amongst people from all religious communities.

India has been gripped by an alarming rise in hate crimes and attacks on its religious minorities ever since the Narendra Modi administration came to power in May 2014. This year alone, there have been 28 recorded incidents of Hindutva vigilante led lynching and mob attacks on Muslims, Christians and Dalits. However, the continued failure of the law enforcement to prevent these attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice has emboldened the individuals and organizations behind such hate crimes. Earlier this month, Mohammed Afrazul, a migrant worker was hacked to death in Rajasthan by a self-styled Hindutva vigilante who recorded the killing on video and proclaimed that he committed the murder to stop Muslims from love-jihad – a fake claim made by Hindutva supremacist groups that Muslims are running some kind of campaign men to convert Hindu women to Islam through false expressions of love.