Seven-year-old S* was playing outside his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh when he was kidnapped on September 24. The family, unaware of his whereabouts, kept hoping he was just out with his friends and would return soon. Their desperation grew as time passed. After repeated attempts of finding him failed, they approached the police and filed a complaint, late at night.
In hopes that their S* will soon return safe and sound, the family waited and never imagined that their once cheerful, pure-hearted and curious little boy’s dead body stuffed in a sack was hanging from a tree just outside their house.
When his body was discovered, the screams of family members and neighbours echoed through the neighborhood. Everyone was taken aback when the jarring image of a small body hanging from a sack surfaced online drawing massive public outcry.
The accused includes an entire family of six including three women who resided two doors next to S*’s house. The prime accused Mantu Nigam and Shalinder Nigam BJP workers are described by the family as alcoholic, behaved inappropriately and allegedly harboured jealousy and hatred after S*’s father’s business started to flourish. While various reasons for the murder surface, the accused family is yet to confess.
Struggling to speak, S*’s father, Shahab-e-Alam told The Observer Post, “Mai kya bolun apko? Meri himmat hi nahi horahi.” ( What can I say to you? I don’t have the courage)
His voice breaking, “I don’t have the courage to express anything now. I am sorry I am unable to speak. We have lost him already.”
S* was loved by all and known for securing first rank in class. He was also keen in religious studies and went religiously to a madrasa.
Describing him, S*’s uncle, Shaukeen Alam said, “Masoom bachcha tha wo hamara. School ke baad madrasa jake ata tha roz. Uske baad kuch ghante khelne jata tha. Hame nahi maloom tha ek haste khelte bacche ko koi berahmi se maar sakta hai. Ham kuch bhi karleñ wo wapis to nahi asakta.”
Alam recalled the Police’s response when they went to file a kidnapping case late at night and informed, “Police didn’t act quickly. They filed a complaint and asked us to look for him ourselves. If they searched for him, we would have found him safe.”
Adeeb Azmi, S*’s other uncle, said, “His body had multiple injuries, his throat was slit and he had a tilak on his forehead when he was discovered.”
“All of this feels like a very bad dream that I wish to wake up from. I haven’t been able to sleep properly or work, from the day our babu went missing,” Azmi says.
Azmi also explained how the accused Mantu pretended to search for S* the whole time while keeping him kidnapped in his house. “He searched for him with us and fully pretended to be worried for him,” Azmi recalled.
Police caught the absconding accused men in an encounter and arrested them along with other family members. In a video message posted by Azamgarh police, the police officer said that the motive for murder is suspected to be rivalry and indifference with the family.
Talha Rashadi, Spokesperson for Rashtriya Ulema Council (RUC) expressed his deep shock over the incident and said, “The Prima facie report suggests that it’s a hate crime. Otherwise, I don’t see the motive behind killing a 7-year-old child. Some say that the child was offered as a sacrifice as part of a Hindu ritual, even if it is true I believe that the accused were radicalised to some degree and it accounts for a hate crime.”
Rashadi took note of the surge in hate crimes against Muslims and added, “The reason behind such incidents is due to the hate and propaganda constantly being peddled by right wing groups and Godi media who dehumanise and demonise Muslims.”
Congress leader Pawan Khera took to his X account to express his shock and wrote, “What a disease, rotten society we have been reduced to that a Hindu neighbour can murder a seven-year-old Muslim boy, stuff his body into a bag and hang him so he could teach a lesson to the “mullahs”.
Shocking shared-hatred on Social Media
When the news of the murder surfaced online and drew massive outrage from the public, several individuals associated with Hindutva-groups lauded the accused. One of the comments included “Ek mulla kam hua” (mulla is a derogatory term used for Muslims).
Another user Manish Negi shares a GIF of a monkey dancing in celebration. While many others wrote one common reply to the news by calling the child a “terrorist” who “learns to make bombs in madrasas”. “Snakes like him must be wiped from this country soon,” another remarked.
Family’s Demands
The family has demanded that the accused’s house be bulldozed and that the prime accused be sentenced to death immediately.
Locals and activists on social media say that if authorities bulldoze homes when the accused are Muslim, then Mantu Nigam’s house should also be bulldozed.
However, family members have expressed that despite their hopes for justice, the response from the police is far from satisfactory.
A once joyous house filled with the laughter of children now sits to grieve the loss of an innocent life, snatched away and has shaken the family’s very faith in humanity. The brutal killing has also shocked the neighborhood who believed that the boy, innocent yet intelligent, had so much life in him, oblivious to hate and never deserved it at all.
In a country witnessing a surge in hate-fuelled violence, the tragic and gut-wrenching murder of a minor boy whose family had no idea his identity would cost him his life, raises urgent questions about growing intolerance and why a child had to pay the price for someone else’s prejudice.
