A 26-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly lynched to death and another person was severely injured earlier this week in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri by a cow vigilante group over allegations that they had eaten beef.
The First Information Report reveals that the victim, Sabir Malik, a scrap dealer, and resident of a slum area near Badhra village was taken by a group of men to the local bus stand claiming that some scrap needed to be disposed off. Another migrant, Asiruddin was also called by the group. Both migrant workers were thrashed at the bus station. With intervention from the locals, they took the two of them to another location on their motorbikes.
Sabir Malik’s body was later found in Bhandwa village, near a canal and reached his house on Friday morning, two days later. Sabir is survived by a two-year-old daughter. Asiruddin was found in critical condition at a different location and is currently undergoing treatment.
Speaking to The Hindu Charkhi Dadri Superintendent, Pooja Vashisth said that the people who interrupted the accused men made a video of the attack but didn’t reach out to the police.
The complainant, Sujauddin, Sabir’s brother-in-law said that he was living in the slum area for the past five years with his father and sister’s family. Sujauddin also stated that one day he and his father were returning home after work when a vigilante group accused them of eating beef and took them to Badhra police station.
Recalling the time when his sister called him saying that some men had taken Sabir, Sujauddin said, “I reported that to the police immediately and later we found his body near a canal.” Demanding stricter punishment, Sujauddin said that the family awaits justice for Sabir.
The Police officials confirmed that five people including two juveniles have been arrested and cases under the sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita( BNS) have been registered.
Condemning the murder, the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers, Samir ul Islam stated, “It has become a threat for Bengali migrant workers to work in states ruled by BJP. Speaking Bengali is dangerous as cow vigilante groups and their likes think that they are Bangladeshis. We demand that people of Bengal must come together to protest such heinous crime.”
Recently, in Odisha, many migrant workers hailing from Bengal were assaulted by people who alleged that they were Bangladeshis and a complaint was filed.
