A horrific double murder of two minor Hindu children in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district has sent shockwaves across the country. The minor children were murdered by accused Sajid and Javed after slitting their throats on the 19th of March. While the gruesome murder of two innocent Hindu children has angered the country, the Islamists have come out in defence of accused Sajid who was neutralised by the Uttar Pradesh Police in an encounter last night.
On Tuesday, Shadab Chouhan, a Peace Party spokesperson and full-time Islamist said that the Police should not have killed the accused Sajid in an encounter. The Taliban-loving Islamist was also miffed with the ‘stray mob’ for allegedly burning down the accused’s barber shop.
In an X post (archive), Shadab Chouhan wrote, “If someone commits such a heinous crime, we strongly condemn it and demand strict action against the culprits, but that does not mean that a bunch of stray mobs can go and burn someone’s house. He will also become a criminal in the same way or the police start working in the name of encounter, it is the job of the court that the victims get justice and the criminals are punished.”
“There can be many differences among the neighbours, there can be disputes about something, but this does not mean that someone becomes a murderer and on the other hand also the people in front of him burn his house to take revenge on a criminal, we condemn both the incidents,” Chauhan continued.
याद रखो लोगों किसी को किसी की जान लेने का अधिकार नहीं अगर कोई ऐसा जघन्य अपराध करता है तो हम इसकी कड़ी निंदा करते हैं और अपराधियों पर सख्त कार्रवाई की मांग करते हैं, लेकिन इसका मतलब यह नहीं की कोई आवारा भीड़ का झुंड जाकर किसी का घर जला दे। वह भी उसी तरह अपराधी हो जाएगा या फिर…
— Shadab Chauhan شاداب چوہان (@shadab_chouhan1) March 19, 2024
Unsurprisingly, Islamist Shadab Chouhan adopted a Janusian approach in the matter since the accused are his co-religionists. On one hand he is ‘condemning’ the heinous crime of Sajid and another accused Javed, on the other he is calling the agitated locals as ‘stray mob’ for allegedly burning down the “someone’s” house. Moreover, the Islamist also criticised Uttar Pradesh Police for killing accused Sajid in an encounter, as if it was a revenge exercise. However, contrary to his assertions Badaun SSP Alok Priyadarshi has informed that accused Sajid was trying to escape and had opened fire on police officials. Consequently, he was killed in a retaliatory fire.
“The accused Sajid…entered the house yesterday at around 7:30 pm and went to the terrace where the children were playing. He attacked the two children and murdered them. He then came down where the crowd tried to hold him back but he escaped…Police teams swung into action when they got to know that the accused had escaped…The accused fired at the police and was killed in retaliatory fire. The murder weapon and the revolver have been recovered…In the FIR, the family of the deceased children has also named the brother, Javed of the accused. Teams are working to find him and he will be arrested soon…According to the family, the accused had demanded Rs 5,000 from the father of the deceased children…” Badaun SSP said.
#WATCH | Budaun Double Murder Case | SSP Budaun, Alok Priyadarshi says, "The accused Sajid…entered the house yesterday at around 7:30 pm and went to the terrace where the children were playing. He attacked the two children and murdered them. He then came down where the crowd… pic.twitter.com/popxtAAqC7
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2024
Notably, the agitated locals had reportedly burnt down the accused’s barber shop after learning about their horrifying deed. It is impossible for an Islamist like Shadab Chouhan to condemn a crime involving his co-religionist as accused without downplaying the crime, criticising the police and angry locals more than the criminal. In his post, Chauhan said that no matter how heinous the crime is, an “Aawara Bheed ka jhund” cannot burn “someone’s” house as if the locals burnt down a random person’s house. While violence in any case is not justified, the burning down of the accused barber shop is merely a reaction of the people over the gruesome murder of two innocent children.
If the crowd actually wanted to exact revenge, or deliver ‘mob justice’ they would have burnt the accused Sajid, not his shop.
Shadab Chouhan had a different reaction during Haldwani violence, he didn’t believe in ‘court justice’ then
Interestingly, while Shadab Chouhan is upset with the locals setting accused Sajid’s shop ablaze he himself had been at the forefront of inciting the riots in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani earlier this year. As we reported last month, Shadab Chouhan had posted provocative posts on X to instigate his co-religionists against the Uniform Civil Code.
“Open your ears and listen, CM Pushkar Dhami. No one has the guts to stop the Muslims in India from following the diktat of Allah and the ways of Prophet Muhammad. You are committing a big mistake if you consider us as weak. You do not have any idea of our power and might. We are ready for all forms of ‘constitutional struggle’,” one such post by Chauhan read.
It must be recalled that Islamists had resorted to stone pelting and arson in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani area on the 8th of February this year. The frenzied mob attacked authorities who went there to demolish a madrasa, which was built on illegally encroached govt land near the Banbhulpura police station, as per a court order. The Islamists pelted stones at the policemen and Haldwani Municipal Corporation workers present there. Later, they surrounded the police station and went on to set fire to the vehicles stationed outside the Banbhulpura police station. The rioters injured over 100 police personnel.
Notably, back in 2021, Shadab Chouhan had hailed the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. “On the auspicious occasion our #IndependenceDay we got information that #Talibans entered in #Kabul peacefully. We congratulate them and hope they will run govt as per Ahkam e Ilahi Nizam e Mustafa, where any discrimination didn’t have place. We believe in peace & justice”, Shadab posted on X on 15th August 2021. The Islamist, however, deleted his X post later after facing backlash (not from his Indian co-religionists though).
Shadab Chouhan also has a history of threatening journalists like Aman Chopra in addition to supporting the persecution of Muslim women, protesting against the imposition of hijab in Iran.
