Politicians from the so-called left-liberal and secular establishment have been making concerted attempts to push a mythical ‘Dalit-Muslim unity’ narrative to draw the subalterns away from their Hindu roots and undermine the numerical superiority of the Hindu majority. The mainstream media, its propaganda wing, has further been aiding their efforts by stimulating a favourable narrative that Muslims and Dalits are natural partners, even though several incidents, time and again, have busted and exposed the farce of the ‘Dalit-Muslim unity’ construct.
While Islamists have been committing crimes against the Dalits in several parts of the country, many of such dreadful cases have recently been reported from the state of Kerala, yet again weakening the much fantasised ‘Dalit-Muslim vote-bank’ narrative and rendering it unviable ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Here are 8 such community crimes committed by Islamists against Dalits reported from the state of Kerala, the recent one believed to have happened on May 14, 2023.
A migrant worker from Bihar was beaten to death in Kerala’s Mallapuram on suspicion of theft; 8 arrested
On Sunday, May 14, Kerala police arrested eight people in connection with the lynching of a migrant worker in Kizhissery. The deceased victim was identified as Rajesh Manjhi, a 36-year-old native of the east Champaran district of Bihar. The migrant worker was lynched by a mob on Saturday over the allegations of theft.
Reportedly, the matter pertains to the Kondutty Police Station precinct in Mallapuram. The accused persons captured Manjhi from a house along the Kizhissery-Thavanur road on Saturday at around 1:00 am. The police learned about the incident at 3:25 am.
When the police arrived at the crime spot they found the victim lying on the wayside in a severely injured state. Police took Manjhi to a local hospital early in the morning. However, he was declared dead and his body was later transferred to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode. The post-mortem examination revealed multiple wounds on the body of the deceased, exposing the mob attack.
The fateful incident is said to be of May 13 night. Accused persons later identified as Fazil Shafudhin, Muhammad Afzal, Mehboob Ahmad Samad, Habib, and their associates tied down Rakesh and thrashed him brutally allegedly on suspicion of theft. The Kerala police, have arrested as many as eight persons pertaining to the barbaric act and confirmed that the murder of the tribal youth was a case of mob lynching.
Jishnu Raj was attacked by the Popular Front of India (PFI), accused of destroying their party flex boards
In June 2022, a person identified as Jishnu Raj belonging to the Dalit community, was reportedly attacked in the early morning hours by members of the SDPI, the IUML, and the political section of the now-banned Islamic terrorist organization named the Popular Front of India (PFI). The PFI and SDPI members claimed that the victim had destroyed their parties’ flex boards.
The IUML and the SDPI denied any involvement in the event, despite the state head of the DYFI, V Vaseef, calling it an “extremist model mob attack.” Five persons were detained by the police in connection with the incident. The arrested persons were identified as Muhammad Salih, Muhammad Ijaz, Najarif, Riyas, and Haris. They are all residents of the Kozhikode district’s Thiruvode.
The police had further booked 29 people, out of which 10 were identified, in the case. They were charged under various sections of the IPC including 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide), 324 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and means), 143 (Unlawful assembly) and 148 (Rioting, armed with a deadly weapon). They were also charged under relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Abhimanyu, a Student Federation of India member was stabbed to death by the PFI unit Campus Front
On July 5, 2018, Abhimanyu a member of the Students’ Federation of India, was stabbed to death by members of the now-banned Islamist terrorist organization named the Popular Front of India’s student wing Campus Front in Ernakulam’s Maharaja College.
According to the then Kerala Director General of Police Loknath Behera, Abhimanyu’s killers were not students of the college. They had earlier attacked Students’ Federation of India workers on the campus.
The Police had detained several PFI and SDPI workers and had conducted raids at the offices and homes. Four persons were arrested in the murder case of Abhimanyu, who was an undergraduate student at Maharaja College.
Kerala Dalit law student’s rape-murder: Convict Ameer ul Islam sentenced to death
In December 2017, a migrant worker from Assam was given the death penalty by a municipal court in Kerala’s Ernakulam for raping and murdering a 29-year-old Dalit woman, a barbaric incident that led to huge demonstrations throughout the state.
The trial court while delivering the decision stated that the accused Ameer ul Islam never deserved any pity, further stating that it was one of the rarest of the rare situations. It was noted that the accused posed a serious threat to society and did not exhibit any regret for perpetrating the horrible murder.
In accordance with many articles of the Indian Penal Code, Islam was also given a 14-year prison term and a fine of Rs. 5 lakhs. He heard the contents of the decision through a translator without showing any reaction.
Islam, belonging to the Nagaon district of Assam, worked as a labourer for almost eight years in different parts of the southern state. He lived in a small house that was 500 metres away from the woman’s house when he committed the crime.
The trial in the case started in April 2017 and was completed in eight months. As many as 100 witnesses were heard and 291 documents and DNA test reports were presented during the trial.
Seven SFI Activists in Kerala Booked for Attacking Dalit AISF Leader
On October 22, 2021, Kerala police filed a complaint against seven Student Federation of India (SFI) representatives for assaulting and threatening a woman leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF) during an event involving the MG University senate election.
SFI is the CPI(M)’s student wing, while AISF is the coalition partner CPI’s student wing. The woman leader alleged that the SFI leaders verbally abused her and made casteist remarks against her. Police filed a complaint under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and other IPC provisions, including 143 and 323.
CPM-linked Islamists attacked a Hindu SC family for bursting Deepawali crackers in Palakkad, Kerala
A Hindu Dalit family was assaulted and beaten up for bursting firecrackers on Deepawali. The complaint was filed at Vadakancherry police but the victim’s family alleged that no action was taken by the Police. A Hindu Dalit person named Manikandan and his mother, from Anchumoorthi Mangalam in Palakkad, were injured.
The incident occurred on October 23, last year the eve of Deepawali, while bursting firecrackers. Manikandan’s neighbour Rahmatullah and his son came and questioned why they were bursting firecrackers and thrashed Manikandan. The father-son duo kicked Manikantan’s elderly mother in her chest. The frail lady was reported bedridden.
Manikantan said that Rahmatullah hurled casteist abuse at him and his mother. He said filed a complaint with the Chief Minister as the police were not ready to file a case despite the protest. Reports mention that the Kerala police filed a complaint against Rahmatullah after 20 days but avoided adding the stringent Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The SC-ST atrocities act was enacted to prevent atrocities and hate crimes against SCs like Manikantan.
Dalit Hindus were denied water supply for attending pro-CAA events
In January 2020, the Hindu residents of a colony at Kuttipuram in the Malappuram district of Kerala were reportedly denied drinking water and had to face a boycott allegedly by Muslim groups for supporting the government on the historic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Reportedly, a person living near the colony used to supply drinking water to the Hindu-dominated colony. However, after protests against CAA got heated up the Hindus of the colony were denied water.
An NGO named Seva Bharati stepped in to provide drinking water to the households of the colony after they heard about the injustice done to the residents. Following the boycott of Hindus by Muslims, there is widespread anger for blocking the primary source of life for these residents.
Attappadi Madhu murder case: 14 of 16 accused convicted
Madhu, a tribal man from Chindakki village in Attappady, Palakkad, was killed after he was caught, tied and thrashed by a group of local people alleging theft of food articles from a grocery shop on February 22, 2018. He was assaulted by the mob and later handed over to the police.
The Mannarkkad Special Court for Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe has found 14 accused in the Madhu Murder Case guilty of charges under IPC 304(2) for culpable homicide.
The names of the accused (from one to 16 ) are Hussain, Maraikkar, Shamsudeen, Aneesh, Radhakrishnan, Abubacker, Siddique, Ubaid, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Abdul Karim, Sajeev, Satheesh, Hareesh, Biju and Muneer. On April 4 this year, a special court in Kerala’s Palakkad district found guilty 14 of the 16 accused persons in the lynching and murder case of Attappady Madhu. The court acquitted 2 persons named Abdul Kareem and Aneesh.
