On June 28, a Hindu man named Kanhaiya Lal was brutally beheaded in Udaipur for an alleged post on social media in support of former spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nupur Sharma. The two Islamists who murdered the poor tailor Kanhaiya Lal in broad daylight made a video of the murder and published it on social media, stating they had killed him as he had insulted Prophet Muhammad.
They also threatened to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a similar manner, brandishing their knives with glee on their faces.
The killers, identified as Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Mohammed Gos, were arrested within hours of the incident, but by then, an older video of one of the killers also went viral where he had talked about ‘killing the ones who commit blasphemy’. He also provoked other Islamists to kill anyone who dares to insult Islam.
Notably, after the said post, a complaint was filed against Kanhaiya Lal by his neighbour. He was arrested for the same but later released on bail. He was receiving continuous threats from Islamists, and he had approached the Police for protection. However, the Police ignored his plea. As per reports earlier, Police had called a few Islamists who had been threatening Kanhaiya Lal and made them sign an agreement stating they would not act on the threats. The Police allegedly used the agreement signed between Kanhaiya Lal and the other side as an excuse to ignore his plea for security.
The statement by the Police over a series of events
The Police said a case was filed against Kanhaiya Lal for the alleged post on June 10. HS Ghumariya, ADG Law and Order, said, “On June 10, a case was filed against victim Kanhaiya Lal for propagating objectionable remarks made against (Prophet) Muhammad. He was arrested and bailed out. On June 15, he complained of a death threat, Police took action and called the concerned party threatening him.”
On June 15, matter was resolved b/w both parties (Kanhaiya Lal &concerned people from Muslim community)threatening him.They reached a compromise in writing that misunderstanding has been cleared.We’ll now probe concerned people on why the matter escalated: HS Ghumariya, ADG (L&O) pic.twitter.com/KgXyp4usfs
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) June 28, 2022
He added, “On June 15, the matter was resolved between both parties (Kanhaiya Lal and concerned people from the Muslim community) threatening him. They reached a compromise in writing that the misunderstanding had been cleared. We’ll now probe concerned people on why the matter escalated.”
For six days, Kanhaiya Lal did not open the shop as he knew he was being watched. After six days, he opened his tailor shop, and on the same day, he was killed by the two Islamists. The Police will now question the people who had signed the agreement of compromise and why the incident took place.
Notably, the incident has a striking similarity with the brutal murder of Kishan Bharwad.
The murder of Kishan Bharwad
On January 25, 2022, Kishan Bharwad, a Dhandhuka (Ahmedabad) youth, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants for a social media post about Prophet Muhammad. Notably, Islamists take offence if someone publishes an image of the Prophet Muhammad, and it is considered an act of blasphemy.
Islamists reached the Police station in the form of a large mob and pressured the Police to take action against Kishan. When Kishan reached the Police station, he was beaten up by the mob. His father alleged some Police personnel also joined the mob to beat him. Kishan was made to apologise.
Just like in the case of Kanhaiya Lal, things did not calm down even after Kishan’s apology. He was later arrested by the Police under Islamist pressure. On the same day, Kishan’s wife gave birth to a daughter. Kishan, who would have been proud to become the father of a baby girl, never got a chance to see her.
A day later, his father arranged bail for him, and Kishan was sent away to live with his uncle for a few days. In desperation to see his little child, Kishan left his uncle’s house with his cousin on a bike to another uncle’s house. At 4 PM, he came back and at 5:30 PM, he was assassinated by the Islamists.
Investigation revealed a racket led by a maulvi to murder anyone who allegedly commits blasphemy. Multiple arrests were made, and the matter is sub-judice.
The similarities between Kishan and Kanhaiya Lal’s murders
In both Kishan and Kanhaiya Lal cases, the deceased had apologised for the social media posts. They both were jailed and later got bail. Both Kishan and Kanhaiya Lal received death threats. Even after apologising, their lives never went back to normal. For days they tried to escape death, but in the end, they were brutally murdered for mere social media posts, because some people considered it ‘blasphemy’.
In every such case, no matter if it happened in India or elsewhere, once a target has been set by the Islamists on anyone for alleged blasphemy, his or her life can never become ‘normal’. It either ends with lifelong ‘looking over the shoulder’ or death. Take the case of late Kamlesh Tiwari. He was killed by the Islamists years after the alleged blasphemy, for which he had spent substantial time in jail as well.
In France, the alleged blasphemy by Charlie Hebdo continues to cause deaths. The office of Charlie Hebdo was attacked, and multiple people were killed. Last year, in connection to the case, a schoolteacher was killed by an Islamist for allegedly showing the ‘cartoon’ made by Charlie Hebdo magazine that had caused the controversy in his classroom.
In Pakistan, Madarsa teachers kill their colleagues ‘because Prophet told them in a dream that she is committing blasphemy and ordered her murder’. It is not something that had happened decades ago, but it is a recent incident that happened in March of this year.
