As Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s most polarised states, votes for a new government, the spotlight is on its 40 million Muslims. BBC Hindi’s Kirti Dubey tracked the status of four cases involving hate crimes against Muslims during Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s tenure.
“He used to carry a thin towel on his shoulder. They stuffed that in his mouth as they killed him,” said Kamrun Ali, wiping away her tears.
Her husband, Anwar Ali, was allegedly killed by a Hindu mob in March 2019 when he tried to prevent them from destroying an Islamic religious structure near his house in Sonbhadra district.
Police arrested 18 people – all local Hindus, including some minors – over his death but they were granted bail within a few months.
Ms Ali said her family is still waiting for justice.
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Lynchings and hate speech targeting Muslims have regularly made headlines since 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power.
Critics say the accused are often supporters of the party – and that anti-Muslim rhetoric by BJP leaders has emboldened them. The BJP denies the accusations, but its leaders rarely condemn such incidents.
Mr Modi himself was fiercely criticised for remaining silent for weeks after a 52-year-old Muslim man was lynched in 2015 in UP for allegedly storing beef in his home. Weeks later, he broke his silence by saying Hindus and Muslims should fight poverty and not each other. He also criticised cow vigilantes in 2017.
The 2015 killing sent shock waves around the world but in the years since there have been several such attacks on Muslims.
Some of the worst incidents have happened in UP, where the BJP’s Yogi Adityanath, a saffron-robed Hindu priest who has often made inflammatory speeches, became chief minister in 2017.
It’s hard to say how many lynchings or hate crimes happen every year – in 2017, India’s crime records bureau collected the data but did not publish it.
