On June 6, in the Namkum area of Ranchi, Jharkhand, three Muslim labourers were brutally assaulted by a mob of over 30 individuals allegedly linked to Hindutva groups. The attack was reportedly motivated solely by the victims’ religious identity.
According to a video circulating widely on social media platform X, the Muslim men recounted their ordeal to local reporters. They said the incident began when they were taking a lunch break near their workplace after returning from offering namaz at a mosque.
A group of men approached them and began questioning their presence. “They asked us, ‘Who are you? What are your names? What are you doing here?’ When we revealed our names and they saw our kurta-pyjamas, their behaviour suddenly changed,” said one of the victims.
Once the mob realised they were Muslims, the men were ordered to vacate the area. As the confrontation escalated, more people gathered—swelling the crowd to 30–40 individuals. One of the Muslim men stated that the mob leader threatened them and demanded they chant “Jai Shri Ram,” a demand they refused. This refusal allegedly triggered the violent attack.
The victim managed to flee and alert others at their worksite. When help arrived, they found two of the men tied to a tree and being beaten mercilessly with sticks. “Had our colleagues not come, we might have been killed,” one of the men said in the video.
The victims also accused the local police of mishandling the case. They alleged that the police initially ignored their complaints and altered key details in their report, particularly removing the part about being forced to chant a religious slogan. “Only after persistent insistence did they rewrite the report, but not without accusing us of lying,” the man added. — With Agencies Inputs
This story was originally published in thequint.com.