Shame on us for letting mob beat, police register case against mentally-challenged man in UP

On Tuesday, reports came in that a mentally-challenged man in Agra, Uttar Pradesh was brutally beaten by a crowd.

Lucknow, May 29: We have truly turned into a mobocracy, where the masses (read majority) can brutally attack and kill anyone at will in the name of Hindu religion. In the last few years, several cases of mob vigilantism have come to light where the minorities (read Muslims and Dalits) have been beaten and killed in the name of protection of cow and Hindu religion.

From Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Una in Gujarat, a mob attacking victims always belongs to the Hindutva brigade known to be close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Recently, a Muslim man would have been beaten to death by an infuriated Hindu crowd in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand. Thankfully, brave Sikh police officer Gagandeep Singh risked his life to rescue the victim. The man in his 20s became a target of Hindu anger because he was seen with a Hindu girl near a temple.

Of late, Hyderabad too is witnessing mob fury as innocents are being targeted over suspicion of child lifting. Reports stated that one transgender and a mentally-challenged man were beaten by people in two separate incidents in the past two days.
While the transgender died, the mentally-challenged man was saved just in the nick of time by an alert police force.

On Tuesday, reports came in that a mentally-challenged man in Agra, Uttar Pradesh was brutally beaten by a crowd. What was his crime? He allegedly vandalised a statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj area.

First, the man was tied to a tree and then people took turns to beat the helpless victim, stated a report by ANI. The worst part is that instead of immediately taking action against the culprits, the police registered a case against the victim.

Now, the victim is in police custody. Thankfully, the police decided to probe the incident of beating of the man too, but definitely a decision they should have taken much earlier.

"Agra: Man tied to a tree & beaten up by people after he allegedly vandalised statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj. He was later handed over to police. Police say 'Case registered. We're being told he's mentally challenged. Probe on. Him being beaten up is also being probed'," tweeted ANI.

Agra: Man tied to a tree & beaten up by people after he allegedly vandalised statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj. He was later handed over to police. Police say 'Case registered. We're being told he's mentally challenged. Probe on. Him being beaten up is also being probed' pic.twitter.com/R126RnkPfY

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 29, 2018

If this is the state of affairs where lawmakers are readily buying the argument of a mob accused of beating a mentally-challenged man, then our democracy is witnessing one of its worst times. Think again, where in a civilised world a disabled man is beaten mercilessly for a statue, even if that piece of structure represents someone's religion?