On Monday night, Muhammed Abbas, a man in his 20s was apprehended for the alleged sexual assault and murder of a minor class.
Muhammed Abbas, WB
The sad demise of a 15-year-old girl in the forested vicinity of Siliguri city in West Bengal. The discovery of the girl’s lifeless body in the Matigara region prompted swift action from law enforcement, as shared by authorities on Tuesday.
Siliguri’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abhishek Gupta, reported that the assailant brutally used a brick to strike the victim’s head, a weapon later recovered from the crime scene (Representative photo). The young victim, a Class 11 student, was located in the woodland area by local residents. Poignantly, she was found in her school uniform. Preliminary investigations suggest that the girl lost her life during an attempt at sexual assault.
Gupta conveyed, “The man viciously assaulted her, ultimately taking her life by using a brick as the weapon of choice. This brick was later identified as the one retrieved from the site of the crime.” The deputy commissioner further stated that through the collaborative effort of information shared by community members and the examination of nearby CCTV footage, the prime suspect, Muhammed Abbas (19), was pinpointed by the police.
The legal process swiftly unfolded as the young man was arrested from his residence on Monday night. Subsequently, on Tuesday afternoon, a Siliguri court granted a two-week police custody of Abbas after he was charged under Section 302 (pertaining to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Additional charges of attempted rape and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act were also pressed against him.
Tyagi Tyagi, UP
In Muzaffarnagar, in a video, the teacher, Tripta Tyagi is asking the classmates to beat the boy. The video of the incident went viral on Friday, leading to calls for action against the teacher and the school. In the video, asking the classmates to beat the boy, Tyagi is heard purportedly saying, “Maine toh declare kar diya, jitne bhi Mohammedan bachche hain, inke wahan chale jao (I have declared — all these Muslim children, go to anyone’s area)”.
The private school in Khubbapur Village, Muzaffarnagar, has been ordered closed by authorities after a distressing incident unfolded earlier this week. The incident involved a seven-year-old boy who was subjected to physical harm by fellow students, following explicit instructions from their teacher.
In UP village where the boy was beaten in class, pressure mounts on the family to ‘compromise’ where the father does not file an FIR against the teacher.
On Sunday, Basic Education Officer Shubham Shukla said, “We have conducted an inquiry… We found that the school doesn’t meet the criteria of the department. We have issued a notice to the school to seal it and authorities are conducting an investigation to take further action. Notice has also been served to the teacher for hitting the child.”
The teacher in question, Tripta Tyagi (60), stands accused of making communal remarks and giving explicit directives to her students to assault their classmates physically. It is alleged that Tyagi referred to the boy’s religious background and used derogatory language to describe “Mohammedan children.” She then instructed the other students to inflict forceful blows upon the boy. This shocking incident apparently transpired due to an error he made in his multiplication tables.
The school in question, known as Neha Public School, is owned by Tripta Tyagi herself. This incident unfolded on Thursday, prompting a swift response from law enforcement and educational authorities. Tyagi has been officially charged under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace). Despite these serious allegations, Tyagi has not been arrested as yet due to the bailable nature of the charged sections.
The Two Cases
All crimes in broad legal terms refer to any act that violates established laws and regulations of a society considered harmful, dangerous, or detrimental to individuals, property, or the overall well-being of a community. Crimes can include offenses such as rape, molestation, theft, assault, murder, fraud, and more. They are typically classified based on their severity, with different degrees of punishment assigned accordingly.
Religious crimes are motivated by prejudice and intolerance towards a particular religion or its adherents. These acts target individuals not only for their personal characteristics but also for their religious identity.
Religious crimes pick up an entire community, seeking to intimidate and subjugate innocent people of another religion to weaken them, subjugate them and disenable their finances, cripple their businesses, dehumanize them, and create a negative narrative across the globe. Their very actions will propel genocide.
As an Indian Muslim, I personally feel very safe when working and living among people of the majoritarian community, and not once have I felt dehumanized or segregated. With full confidence, I can testify that my Hindu friends and neighbors are embracive and supportive and reveal the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity.
What particularly alarms me is the infiltration of nefarious elements in the Hindu society bent on dividing communities and trying to trigger hate in Indians among Muslims and others. While this was never widely evident before, by leaps and bounds, religious intolerance is rearing its ugly head to such proportions that all are alarming and most minorities feel unsafe today.
Here are some huge differences between both crimes
Muhammed Abbas committed his heinous crime based on his lust and evil intent. There is no time he used the word Hindu. Why did he chose a Hindu girl could be the question? Well, there are many Muslim men who also have relationships with Muslim girls or even Muslim girls choosing Hindu men, so the point here is the law of attraction that transcends religion, caste, or ethnicity.
Why should a Dalit choose a Brahim to have a relationship despite knowing its horrific repercussions even unto death? In a suspected case of honour killing, a 16-year-old girl was axed to death allegedly by her father and two brothers in Muzaffarpur Tikri Village under the limits of Sarai Akil police station of Kaushambi on Saturday morning, police said.
The girl’s family was apparently opposed to her relationship with a youth belonging to a different caste, they said. The police have arrested the father Malkhan Singh, two brothers — Radhay Shyam Singh and Ghan Shyam Singh. The mother of the girl has also been arrested for hiding facts.
Here, Muhammed Abbas’ crime, did not have religious connotations, but rather went for a girl who fought him back and she lost her life when he attacked her.
Why is Tripta Tyagi’s crime a religious one?
While the UP police set out a statement that Tripta Tyagi’s crime was not a religious one, I beg to defer.
- With Tripta Tyagi, she very clearly used the word “Muslim” while ordering all the other children to beat the terrified child for an hour. Hate crimes rooted in religion involve the deliberate targeting of individuals or groups due to their beliefs. Such incidents can take various forms, from verbal abuse and physical assault to vandalism and even murder. The perpetrators often exploit religious differences as a pretext to carry out their acts of aggression, seeking to divide and sow discord within communities. By using the word “Muslim”, she was trying to instigate the child’s classmate to hate Muslims. This is seen rising in schools today where children actually say, “It was a Muslim”. When Muhammed Abbas killed Diya Pradhan, many people started to say, “It was done by a Muslim.” We conclude that certain elements in society are succeeding in creating a division between Hindus and Muslims. This was never the case before, a crime was seen as a crime by any community and condemned but not on grounds of religion.
2. In this case, too, the father of the Muslim child is petrified to file an FIR against the teacher for fear of repercussions from the local Hindu community. This clearly reveals the level of fear Muslims live in. If there was no fear, like any other normal parent, he would have filed an FIR against the teacher. Notably, the school has been closed down due to having no legal paperwork.
3. In India, a series of disturbing incidents unfolded – an imam was tragically stabbed and shot within a mosque that was subsequently razed to the ground. In a separate incident, a young doctor walking home fell victim to an armed mob that subjected her to physical assault and harassment. Another horrifying event involved a railway officer who, while boarding a train, embarked on a lethal spree, targeting and fatally shooting three individuals.
Although these incidents may seem unrelated at first glance, they share a common thread: the victims were all of the Muslim faith instances of sectarian violence directed towards the Muslim minority – constituting roughly 14% of the population – have been on a distressing rise.
The emergence of hardline vigilante Hindu rightwing groups has been emboldened. These groups have engaged in sustained persecution and acts of violence against Muslims, including lynching. Furthermore, they’ve organized numerous rallies and marches that amplify anti-Muslim hate speech and even call for genocidal acts of violence.
4. Uttar Pradesh is the hotbed for religious discrimination. Uttar Pradesh earned a reputation as a hotspot for religious discrimination. A region grappling with a complex blend of historical context, socio-political dynamics, and communal tensions, Uttar Pradesh reflects a multifaceted landscape where the struggle for harmony and equality persists. The roots of religious discrimination in Uttar Pradesh can be traced back to its historical narratives. The state has witnessed periods of cultural and religious upheaval, contributing to lingering divisions. Historical events like the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya in 1992, which led to widespread communal violence, and subsequent court battles further exacerbated the communal fault lines. The socio-political environment in Uttar Pradesh has played a pivotal role in fostering an atmosphere conducive to religious discrimination. The rise of identity politics, often exploiting religious sentiments, has amplified differences rather than promoting unity. Polarizing narratives, inflammatory speeches, and the manipulation of communal sentiments have, unfortunately, become all too common.
Each time a Muslim commits a crime, it is deliberately highlighted on social media. There are certain groups of people in India who are working hard to build an atmosphere of division in religion. Perhaps, they have false fears of Muslim domination and political elements, taking advantage of this fear is trying to use it for their advantage. But this has destabilized the country more than anything. One has seen huge losses, destruction, and ruined businesses due to this.
Our hope remains that its people will rise above religious differences, embracing the true essence of unity in diversity that India stands for.