Many Indian & Kashmiri friends are sharing articles about the vigilante murder of Tabrez Ansari, a young Muslim man from Jharkland beaten to death by a mob. Besides its gruesome & vigilante character, the articles aren’t explaining what is behind this monstrous crime & emphasize accusations that he was beaten to death for stealing a bicycle. Early last year, a Muslim man in Jharkhand was beaten to death after asking a group to turn down their loud music on New Year’s day. Stealing a bike or objecting to loud music are not capital offenses even in a kangaroo court so obviously there is more going on here. Like an escalation of Hindutva nationalist violence against Muslims, Dalits, & other oppressed castes.
Could Indian & Kashmiri friends, or others who understand the social conflicts in this case, elaborate the politics of this particular vigilante murder? And please don’t do a number on so-called identity politics. As long as human beings are persecuted or murdered for their particular identities, identity politics will be a necessary form of resistance, whether maligned or not.
This is a 2018 Human Rights Watch report that gives considerable insight into the increase of these crimes in India:
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/india?fbclid=IwAR2Ltsht2x-