In another instance of hate crime, a man, identified as Shaukat Ali, became a victim to mob violence in Assam, reported India Today.
The mob suspected 68-year-old Shaukat Ali of selling beef and cornered him. They thrashed him and also proceeded to force feed him pork. The incident took place on April 7 in Assam’s Biswanath Chariali town.
In a video doing the rounds on social media, Shaukat Ali can be seen kneeling in mud surrounded by an angry mob. The mob asks Shaukat Ali why he is selling beef and if he has the license to do so.
The irate mob also proceeded to demand that Shaukat Ali declare his nationality, asking if he is Bangladeshi or if he has a National Register of Citizen (NRC) certificate.
According to local police, Ali is a businessman and has been running an eatery in the area for the last 35 years. The mob accused him of selling beef in the weekly market.
However, the situation worsened when the miscreants started thrashing Shaukat Ali and allegedly forced him to eat pork.
In another video of the incident, the group can be seen manhandling Shaukat Ali and forcing him to eat meat, claimed to be pork, from a packet.
Shaukat Ali received injuries and is being treated in a local hospital.
The mob also misbehaved with the manager of the weekly market, Kamal Thapa.
Confirming the incident, the local police told news sites that two FIRs have been filed against unidentified persons — one by Kamal Thapa and the other by Shaukat Ali’s relatives. The police, however, denied that the violence was communal in nature.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi also slammed the incident on Twitter, writing “I know many people who feel they’re desensitized because of the number of lynchings in the last five years. I am not, each video infuriates me and saddens me.”
Owaisi added, “It’s irrelevant that beef is legal in Assam, lynching an innocent old man is illegal in every part of India.”
