New Delhi, August 17, 2023 (PPI-OT): Cow vigilantes lynched a mentally-challenged Muslim youth on suspicion of cow theft in Hojai district of the Indian state of Assam. The news of the death of Hifzur Rahman was conveyed to his younger brother, Imrul Haque, by the superintendent of police of Assam’s Hojai district. The 23-year-old Imrul Haque rushed to Nagaon Civil Hospital and found that his brother had died from injuries sustained during a “brutal, inhuman beating,” media reports said.

Imrul Haque said his brother could have been anything because he was a person with a mental health condition but not a thief. “He (Rahman) would ask for money from people and from shops, but never touch a thing to eat,” Imrul said. On Saturday (12 August), Rahman from Jayantia Basti in the Islam Nagar area entered a Hindu-dominated village – Bamungaon in the Lanka area – of the district. Somehow, Rahman got rounded up by Hindu residents on suspicion of stealing cows. They had beaten Rahman before informing the police. A local police official from the Lanka police station told the media that they received information about the incident at around 2:40 a.m. Sunday and rushed to the spot.

The police then recovered a seriously injured Rahman and took him to a local hospital where was declared dead, the police claimed. The police said it arrested six persons – Sanjoy Das, Nikhil Das, Tulendra Das, Uttam Chakrabarty, Jayanta Chakrabarty and Sanandhu Majumdar – and booked them under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The police also said a seventh person will also be arrested under the same section of the IPC.

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