Dhandhuka Taluka in Ahmedabad district is little over 100 kms from Ahmedabad city. You take an exit from Sarkhej, most known for the mosque and tomb Sarkhej Roza, pass through industrial area of Changodar and other parts to reach Dhandhuka. It takes little over two hours to reach there from the city. Once out of the industrial area, one can see the beautiful countryside with golden farms on both the sides of the highway.
Except, the destination to this picturesque route was home of 27-year-old Kishan Boliya, also called Kishan Bharwad, where his parents are mourning his untimely death. He was shot dead by radicalised men inspired by maulanas (Islamic religious leaders) who instigated them to carry out the jihadi activity of killing a man who had ‘blasphemed’.
Kishan had shared a video which showed an image of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims firmly believe that visual depiction of Muhammad are forbidden. Islamists believe that such a visual depiction is blasphemy and an ‘insult’ to Muhammad, and beheading of the one who blasphemed is appropriate punishment.
Unfortunately, many are still unaware about such terrifying laws of blasphemy in Islam.
Right off the main road near Chachana bus stop is where Kishan’s family home is. There was heavy media presence in the house where political leaders were expected to arrive through the day. There are cows and buffaloes tied outside the house.
“Kishan loved cows. His Instagram profile was also Kishan Shepherd. Cows, dogs, he was an animal lover. He would spend hours with them. If he saw anyone in pain, he would go out of his way to help them,” his father said with his hands folded, fighting back tears.
Kishan would help his father in farming and also ran a small photocopy shop near the court in Dhandhuka.
Kishan was a simple boy with simple life.
Earlier in January, he shared a video on his social media profile. His father and other relatives repeatedly tell me he had only shared and not created that post. The video showed Jesus as ‘Son of God’, Prophet Muhammad (with a visual depiction of what he would look like) as ‘Prophet of God’ and Shree Krishna as ‘The God’. “All religions are equal and all humans are equal. My son only said that Shree Krishna is bigger God and within 30 minutes of his posting the video he started getting threats,” he said. The villagers were not aware that visual depiction of Prophet Muhammad was the bigger bone of contention in all possibilities.
Kishan started getting threats, including death threats almost immediately.
“A mob of 500-1000 Muslim people reached police station and demanded action against Kishan. They filed police complaint and Kishan and I went to the police station. The mob then beat up Kishan. Some policemen also joined in in beating him up. They demanded Kishan apologises. So he apologised. We gave written apology as well as video apology,” his father said.
Except, three days later, he got a call from police station again. The mob was back and not satisfied with the various forms of apology over ‘blasphemy’. So they wanted him jailed and another FIR was filed. “They (Police) said they will have to arrest him so I said okay. Next day we got him a bail and then I asked him to stay away from the village for a few days till things calm down,” his father said. Kishan then stayed at his uncle’s place for a few days.
Just day after he was put in jail, his wife had to undergo a caesarian section and gave birth to a baby girl.
Kishan never got to see his daughter’s face.
“He was going from my brother’s house to other home, hoping to see the child. His cousin was driving the bike and he sat pillion. He came back at 4 PM and at 5:30 PM they killed him,” his father said.
“It was a conspiracy to make the murder appear like a localised crime and not a jihadi activity that it was. They carried out rallies and reached out to police and filed complaints to show their anger. But in reality it was a part of bigger conspiracy. Involvement of so many maulanas from across India shows that only,” said one of his relatives.
“I am willing to bet that if you carry out raids at these dargahs, masjids and madarsas, you will find AK47 in most of these. These are breeding ground for jihadi training and activities. Even the piston and bike used in the murder were found near the dargah,” the relative said.
A source while speaking to OpIndia said that there is rampant increase in dargahs and masjid in the area, where a lot of radicalisation activities take place. Most of these have come up in past 35-40 years since the Tablighi Jamaat started preaching in the area, he said.
In about 2 km radius of Dhandhuka Mamlatdar office, there are over half a dozen masjids, dargahs and even kabristans. A local resident said that a few years back Islamists had broken down part of Mamlatdar office because it covered about 3 feet into the Kabristan area.
“This is the Kashmir modus operandi to drive away Hindus away silently. We will not let Gujarat turn into Kashmir. There is no reason to not believe this is a nationwide conspiracy. Following the action taken by Saudi Arabia government even Indian government should crackdown on Tablighi Jamaat in India,” said Ranchhod Bharwad of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad while speaking to OpIndia. He said that the police should investigate the organisations the maulanas accused in Kishan Bharwad murder case and take action against these organisations as well.
Shambhunath Tundiya, former MP and MLA and currently President of state unit of BJP SC Morcha, speaking to OpIndia said that it is important that everyone is made aware of Indian Constitution and Indian Penal Code. “The killers were inspired from Sharia, but in India it is the constitution that is above all. Along with religious books, these two should also be taught to children so that everyone knows their duties along with their rights,” he said emphasising that only way out would be education.
“They ruined not only Kishan’s family but their own families. One of the accused is so poor his father borrows bidis to smoke. He didn’t even think of his own family. You know he works as a car cleaner?” said a source close to the family.
“They have no remorse. Instead, let me tell you, they have collected money to build mazaar in their names. If they get death sentence or for whenever they die, these two will be celebrated for having done jihad for the faith,” said a source. A mazaar is a shrine/tomb of saints or notable religious leaders.
It should be noted that in Pakistan, Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated politician Salman Taseer who was against the blasphemy laws, has a shrine in his name. Qadri had gunned down Taseer in 2011 and now his followers believe he has earned a place for himself next to Prophet Muhammad. But even before that, before the partition of India, Mahashay Rajpal, publisher of Rangeela Rasool, was assassinated for publishing a satirical take on Prophet Muhammad. Unsurprisingly, his assassin, Ilm Ud Deen is also celebrated and his shrine/mazar in Lahore is revered by his followers.
Following Kishan Bharwad’s assassination, a number of Islamists posted their support for the murderers on social media.
In one post, one ‘bigde nawab’ gave 100 salute to the murderers and hailed them as lions. In other post, one ‘Mr Nawab’ showed how proud he was of the two and warned others of thinking a hundred times before ‘opening mouth’.
I asked Kishan’s father if anyone from the Muslim community has expressed regret to him or reached out to him and join him in mourning on death of his son. He said no. No one from the Muslim community has shown solidarity with him.
