In a shocking incident, a Mulsim mob allegedly attacked a group of Dalits in a village under the Gauribazar station area in Deoria because they had opposed to a Muslim man Rehmat Ali attempting to molest a girl from their community.
As per reports, on the night of 18 April, a Muslim man named Rehmat Ali had allegedly broken into the house of a Dalit girl in the Karjahan village and attempted to molest her. When the girl fought him off and screamed for help, Rehmat Ali reportedly ran off when the girl’s family members woke up and tried to catch him.
On the next night, Rehmat Ali allegedly entered the girl’s house again to molest her. This time the girl’s family confronted him but he managed to run away again. After a while, Rahmat Ali reportedly returned with a mob of over a dozen men armed with sticks and sharp weapons. The mob allegedly beat up the girls family and relatives, including women and children. Reports say that even the minor girl herself and her mother were attacked and beaten up by the goons. Several people have been injured in the mob attack.
The Ambedkar statue in the Dalit locality was also allegedly damaged by the mob. The mob allegedly kept beating up the people for nearly an hour, only when the rest of the villagers gathered up to face them and stop, the mob reportedly withdrew.
Several people including Sheela Devi, Ramayan, Jayaprakash, Dharamveer, Tetri Devi, Ashok and in total over a dozen people have been reportedly injured in the mob attack.
HORRIFIC incident. Muslim mob BREAKS Ambedkar statue, runs amok with swords, THRASHES Dalit families after they object to a girl being assaulted by a Muslim. Area tense even after 3 days.
NO outrage. Activists SILENT. Say something, Mr @jigneshmevani80. https://t.co/G6MQ4NMCJX pic.twitter.com/P2BBz8Rs9i
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) April 22, 2019
The Dalit victims have alleged that they had informed the police after the first incident of the break-in and molestation attempt by Rehmat Ali. But the local police did not pursue the issue. The victims have alleged that if the police had acted on their complaint on the first day itself, the mob violence could have been avoided.
Talking to OpIndia, the SO of Gauribazar police station stated that the main accused Rehmat Ali has already been arrested by the police. They added that they have registered a case and investigations are already on to nab other culprits. The statue of Ambedkar has been repaired and currently, the law and order situation in the area is normal.
The local Dalits, however, have reportedly demanded a stricter action from the police stating that they should arrest all the accused immediately to assuage the fears of women and children in the village who had been attacked by them.
Earlier, in a similar incident in Mantola, Agra, a Muslim mob had attacked the small community of Dalits over petty fights. Later, a ground report by Swarajya journalist Swati Sharma had revealed that there was an illegal slaughterhouse run by Muslims in the area and the Hindus of the area have been living in fear. UP Police had sealed the slaughterhouse.
There have been several incidents of mob violence by Muslims targeted against Dalit Hindus. Unfortunately, such incidents do not get much attention in the mainstream English media.
