On Tuesday, October 15th, a novel video related to one of the most violent attacks on Hindus during Navratri in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh that happened on Sunday, October 13th came to the fore. In the said attack an Islamist mob mercilessly murdered 22-year-old Ram Gopal Mishra. However, Mishra alone did not face the brutal assault; he was joined by Sudhakar Tiwari, who fortunately survived the attack.
Sudhakar at present is admitted to a local hospital where he is undergoing treatment to cure severe injuries he obtained as a result of the attack. As per the reports, he has incurred head trauma and is hardly able to speak.
A video of Tiwari hospitalized was shared on X by Shubham Sharma of NeoPolitico, a media outlet. In the video, Tiwari can be seen confirming that some people from the Mosque initiated the attack on the Hindus.
“People from the mosque attacked us. I don’t remember much as they attacked us. I was injured on my head and moved unconscious. The police brought me here,” Tiwari could be heard saying as he recalled the horrific attack that happened in Bahraich on 13th October.
With #GopalMishra in #Bahraich Sudhakar Tiwari was also attacked. Watch this video as he tells, "People from Mosque attacked us…."
— Subhi Vishwakarma (@subhi_karma) October 16, 2024
Video: @Shubham_fd pic.twitter.com/F0mt89iCgL
A clash broke out between two communities during the immersion of the Devi Durga idol in Rehua Mansoor village in the Hardi police station area of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, after Muslims objected to DJ music played in the procession. One person was shot dead during the violence while several others were injured from stone pelting. The deceased was later identified as 22-year-old Ram Gopal Mishra, who was part of the idol immersion group. Mishra was rushed to the medical college hospital after the firing, but he died there during treatment.
As per reports, the incident took place at Rehua Mansoor village on Sunday evening, when the idol of Maa Durga was taken out for immersion. When the procession heading towards Gauriya Ghat was passing in front of a mosque in the Maharajganj area chanting religious slogans, Muslims gathered near the mosque and asked the procession to stop the DJ music.
This led to an argument between the two sides, and amid the chaos, some people started pelting stones at the procession and the idols. The Hindus asked the police present to arrest the culprits, but in the meantime, more people from the Muslim community arrived there.
Uttar Pradesh: A disagreement over DJ music in Bahraich turned violent when one side opened fire. After the fight, a young man died from his injuries in the hospital.
— IANS (@ians_india) October 13, 2024
The trouble started during an idol immersion ceremony. In reaction to the young man's death, local people held… https://t.co/edXwTl2nNU pic.twitter.com/APi5tBZXok
It is believed that during the turmoil, Mishra climbed onto the roof of Abdul Hamid’s house and replaced an already flying green flag with a saffron one, while cries of ‘Jai Maa Durga’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ roared in the air.
Amid the mayhem caused by the stone pelting, some miscreant opened fire. As per reporters, someone from Abdul Hamid’s residence in the area fired shots. Ram Gopal Mishra, son of Kailash Nath of Rehua Mansoor village was shot from a close range. He was shifted to the Medical College in Bahraich, but he succumbed to injuries during treatment.
What followed was much more terrifying. The Islamists carried Mishra into a house, locked him inside, and tortured him brutally. They used pliers to remove his nails, sliced his neck with a knife, and then shot over 15 bullets at him. After killing him, the mob resumed their attack by pelting stones at his motionless body, demonstrating an immense hatred towards the Hindu community.
#बहराइच : जिस घर में रामगोपाल मिश्रा की हत्या की गई
— News1India (@News1IndiaTweet) October 14, 2024
उस छत से शव को नीचे लाते समय जमकर पथराव किया गया
राम गोपाल मिश्रा की हत्या के बाद का EXCLUSIVE वीडियो आया सामने…#Bahraich #GopalMishra pic.twitter.com/oFTmRfoOWH
OpIndia spoke to Harimilan Mishra, brother of the deceased Ram Gopal, in connection with this video. Harimilan said that Muslims murdered his brother by dragging him into their house. Some Hindu youths involved in the immersion procession somehow reached there and tried to bring the body out. The youths bringing the body were also attacked with bullets and stones. Some stones also hit Ram Gopal’s dead body. According to Harimilan, his brother’s body could only be brought out from the roof of another house.
When OpIndia asked whether the police did not help in bringing the body out, Harimilan replied, “My brother was killed because of the police.” He said that as long as the Hindus were united, they were not attacked, but as soon as there was a stampede due to the lathi charge by the police, the attack took place and bullets were fired. Ram Gopal Mishra became the victim of these bullets.
Brother Harimilan said that the police neither helped in saving Ram Gopal, nor in removing his body after the murder. Now, Ram Gopal Mishra has been cremated. Before the cremation, there was a long argument between the family of the deceased and the administration. Ram Gopal’s brother Harimilan said that he had cremated his brother on the basis of the assurance given by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Sureshwar Singh.
As the news of the death of Ram Gopal Mishra spread across the state, his sister Preeti, who lives in Lucknow, rushed to Bahraich. She expressed her grief saying, “They killed my brother like an animal. They sliced his throat and removed his toenails. His entire body had been wounded by gunfire, and his stomach had many knife cuts. They shot him fifteen times,” she said.
See the big bungalow of late Gopal Mishra. How he was living his lavish lifestyle in this hut. The brother of Gopal Mishra told us that police had not given their vehicle to take Gopal to the hospital. Later, his body with 20 bullet shots was taken on a splendor bike. Police was… pic.twitter.com/QALliZymJP
— Shubham Sharma (@Shubham_fd) October 15, 2024
Journalist Sharma also visited Mishra’s house to reveal that the deceased stayed in the most vulnerable economic conditions. Sharma also revealed that Mishra was just married and that he stayed with his wife in a single room that didn’t even have proper walls or roofs.
While Ram Gopal Mishra unfortunately succumbed to the brutal attack by Muslim radicals, Sudhakar Tiwari continues to receive medical attention and is no longer in danger.
Mishra’s death is extremely sad for his family. He was the youngest of three brothers; his two older brothers had previously died, one from suicide and the other from drowning. Gopal was his family’s last earner, and he too has now died. Ram Gopal was married only two months before the Muslim radicals killed him on 13th October during a visarjan procession of the Goddess Durga idol in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.
