Muslims angry with woman as she married a Muslim man who changed his faith
In certain Muslim-majority areas of Assam, even watching Ramayan is a taboo. Two Muslim men on May 1 attacked their Hindu neighbour woman for watching television during the Islamic month of Ramzan. The accused identified as Samiruddin Ali and Mobidul Rahman, residents of Nazira, a small town in Sivsagar district, about 310 kilometres from the state capital, Dispur, got enraged when they found that Jahnobi Gogoi, 39, was watching Ramayan in their locality which is a Muslim-dominated area.
In #Assam, Muslim threatens Assamese Hindu family for watching TV in the month of Ramzan. They tried to strangulate her, and threatens with a big machete to cut them, while neighbours join to burn them alive, and through them in Railway track. @KapilMishra_IND pic.twitter.com/R07r4mAkRE
— Oxomiya Jiyori 🇮🇳(Modi’s Family) (@SouleFacts) May 3, 2020
According to the victim’s complaint in the police station, Samiruddin Ali and Mobidul Rahman barged into her house and abused her. They said the voice of the serial was ‘disturbing them’.
According to Hindu Post report, the accused also warned the victim of dire consequences if the victim did not abide by the Islamic diktats issued by the Muslims of the locality for Ramzan. The accused armed with machete tried to strangulate and threatened to kill her. Other Muslims of the area soon gathered and said they would burn her alive and dispose of her dead body on the railway tracks.
Hindu woman in Assam strangulated, attacked with sword by Sameeruddin Ali & Mobidul Rahman They name-called her 4 being Hindu
Case is diluted!We urge @DGPAssamPolice @NCWIndia to investigate 4 attempt to murder,outraging modesty & religious intolerance
@gpsinghassam@HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/biJcf5ba5n— Forum for Indigenous Rights- North-East India (@fir_ne) May 4, 2020
The report said Jahnobi is a woman of scanty resources; she runs a small canteen in the town’s office compound and has been struggling to make both ends meet since the imposition of lockdown due to the Chinese virus pandemic. Her husband is a mason with no work at hand now. With an eight-year-old daughter, the couple has been hit by a serious economic crisis. However, the recent relaxations have led to some government offices opening and starting operations. This gave the family a sigh of relief as she was able to open her canteen and make some income.
According to the Hindu Post report, this is not the first time this couple has become the target of local Muslims. The threats date to when Jahnobi had married a Muslim man who converted and became a Hindu after marriage. The family of three wanted to erect a temple on their land, but these Muslim neighbours had terrorized the couple against it.
After the radicals left, Jahnobi reached the local police station to lodge an FIR. Nazira can be considered a Congress bastion in the state with the local MLA being Debabrata Saikia, son of the late Congress leader Hiteswar Saikia, former Chief Minister of Assam. Understandably, the Muslim vote bank rules the ballot box in this town. Consequently, the police forced Jahnobi to agree for an out-of-court settlement and discouraged her against filing an FIR. On the contrary, an FIR was lodged against her by the assaulters. However, she got some respite when the district secretary of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal reached out to her offering assistance. Finally, an FIR was lodged against the culprits, albeit under diluted provisions of Indian Penal Code section 448, 354(A), 325 and 294.
A local human rights body has appealed to Assam DGP and National Commission for Women to look into the matter and apply the proper penal codes related to attempt to murder, hate speech, molestation in the FIR, according to Hindu Post.
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