A person in Saharanpur district’s Deoband died of injuries after being allegedly beaten up brutally by a mob in a village, police said on Monday. While 11 persons have been booked for his murder, the police also filed an attempt to murder case against the deceased alleging that before being assaulted by the mob he had attacked a boy in the village twice on his neck with a sickle.
Saharanpur Police claim the deceased, identified as Israr, was mentally unstable.
A video of the beating showing a man lying bloodied and injured on the ground while a mob was hitting and abusing him was shared on social media.
According to Saharanpur Police, Israr hit a boy in village Imliya with a sickle at around 6.30 p.m. on June 18 and fled with the victim’s motorcycle. When he reached Dehra village, 4 km-5 km away, he allegedly attacked another boy with a sickle on his neck twice. Upon seeing the bloodied boy fall to the ground, angry villagers surrounded Israr and thrashed him badly, said Station House Officer Deoband Y. D. Sharma. Police admitted Israr to a hospital where he died during treatment.
“Some people are trying to label it a case of mob-lynching, but the situation was not so. It was action-reaction. We have registered FIRs (First Information Report) from both sides,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu .
The officer claimed that Israr would suffer from “ daura ” (seizures) during summer and was under treatment. This could not be independently verified from Israr’s family.
A case was lodged against 11 persons on charges of murder and rioting. In the FIR, Israr’s brother Gulfam has named all 11 accused, who were identified as Bobby, Sunda, Dharmvir, Rohit (1), Rohit (2), Nitin, Johru, Satu, Dharmendra, Ravi and Vijay, all natives of Dehra village.
According to Mr. Gulfam, his brother Israr was beaten up without any reason.
Mr. Gulfam says Israr had left home at 6 p.m. on June 18 and was headed to Kutesra for some work. But at 6.30 p.m. they were informed by someone that Israr was being beaten up. When Mr. Gulfam reached Dehra village along with two-three other people, he alleged he saw the accused were beating up his brother near a school with lathis, iron rods and sharp weapons with the intent to kill.
“My brother was tied up. When I asked them to stop hitting him, they did not stop and continued to beat him,” said Mr. Gulfam.
Only when the ‘Dial 112’ service vehicle of U.P. Police arrived at the spot was Israr rescued and taken to a hospital, his brother said in his complaint.
No arrests have been made so far, said Mr. Sharma.
