Shabbir Shiekh (25), a resident of Shahar Masjid area in Katol town of Nagpur, is a devout Muslim but he is afraid to grow a long beard nowadays.
“We had heard about Muslim men being lynched in north India, but now a person from our own locality has been attacked. This is shocking and dreadful. We feel unsafe,” Mr. Shiekh told this reporter.
He was referring to a group of men attacking his neighbour Salim Shah at Bhorsingi village (15 km from Katol) a couple of days ago on the suspicion that he was carrying beef.
Mr. Shiekh is not the only person in his locality who feels this way.
“This (attack by cow vigilantes) should not have happened in Maharashtra. We believed our State is safe compared to northern States,” said Shiekh Abid, another resident of the Shahar Masjid locality. “Even when there were incidents of communal violence in other parts of the country, our area never witnessed any rift. The Hindus, the Muslims, and Buddhists have been living here peacefully. But what is happening now is not good. The situation has changed in the last few years. There was Akhlakh, there was Junaid and now there is Salim. The attackers should be given strict punishment.”
The Muslims in the area are afraid, though Mr. Shah is a BJP leader and his party has openly condemned the incident. The BJP’s Nagpur rural president Rajiv Potdar said Mr. Shah was carrying mutton, not beef.
Almost all the residents had gathered in front of Mr. Shah’s house when he came home on Thursday and the fear among the people was palpable.
“There should be strict action against the attackers. Luckily, the police acted swiftly and saved Salim’s life. The incident was shocking. It shows no one is safe,” stated Farid Shah, another resident of Shahar Masjid area.
Mr. Shah was attacked by “five to eight men” in Bhorsingi village. “They attacked him at the bus stop. He ran to my garage. I heard the noise and came out as the group was thrashing him. I asked them to stop, but someone said they would murder him. I called up the police and the policemen came here quickly and saved his life,” said Allauddin Sheikh of Bhorsingi, an eyewitness to the incident.
However, apart from Allauddin, no other villager was willing to talk about the incident that took place in the busiest square of the village at 10 a.m.
Most of the shopkeepers and workers at restaurants claimed they opened their shops and restaurants late that day.
Parents of the main accused, Moreshwar Tandurkar, were unapologetic. “The entire village participated in the attack, but only my son was arrested. He was taluka president of the Prahar organisation and would be the first person to help anyone in need. It must have been beef and Moreshwar must have had the correct information,” said Moreshwar’s father Lakshan Tandurkar. “But they should not have beaten that man. They should have handed him over to the police, because we knew the villagers would back out when it came to police matters.”
Ashok Raut, a close friend of Mr. Moreshwar who met him in jail, said he showed no remorse. “He said he knew it was beef and he told me what he did was right,” Mr. Raut told The Hindu .
Friends and family members of the main accused alleged the victim was into “beef business”, a claim denied by Mr. Shah, his family, and his neighbours.
“There are slaughter houses in Amner village (7 km from Bhorsingi) and this man was transporting beef to his customers in Katol,” claimed Arun Dhote, another friend of the main accused.
However, Amner sarpanch Devendra Bondre denied the allegations. “There are slaughter houses in the old locality of our village, but I have never heard of cows being slaughtered there. They do slaughter old and sick horses and other animals, but not cows,” he said.
Four villagers from Amner — Sheikh Habib, Sahebrao More, Santosh Jevankar, Javed Qazi — and inspector of Jalalkheda police station Vijay Tiwari also denied the allegation that cows are slaughtered in Amner and beef is transported to other areas.
Bhorsingi’s deputy sarpanch Chintaman Raut, whose tailoring shop is situated at the bus stop, said he was not present when Mr. Shah was attacked. However, he called the incident “barbaric”.
“Civilised men will never indulge in such attacks. All the four attackers are unemployed and in their early thirties. The main accused Moreshwar is unmarried. All of them are drunkards and known for rowdy behaviour. I don’t think it was beef. These men only took advantage of the prevailing situation (in the country),” Mr. Raut said.
