Telangana: Muslim man paraded for allegedly urinating near Shivaji's statue
What's the story
A Muslim man was reportedly brutally assaulted and paraded by an angry mob for allegedly urinating near the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Gajwel town of Telangana's Siddipet district on Monday night. In multiple viral videos, the mob can be seen heckling the man by chanting Jai Shri Ram, Bharat Mata ki jai, and Chhatrapati Shivaji ki jai.
Details
Man was reportedly drunk when incident occurred
Reportedly, the man was under the influence of alcohol when the incident occurred. He was caught urinating by locals, who berated him. Soon a crowd of Hindus—belonging to right-wing organizations—gathered and assaulted the victim. The man was forced to clean the area where he allegedly urinated by pouring a bucket of water. He was then paraded on the road amid loud sloganeering.
Twitter Post
Several videos of incident on social media
A drunkard Muslim man named Imran was heckled, forced to wash idols' feet and stripped by a mob in Gajwel Telangana. The incident has caused communal tension forcing local police to impose curfew in the town.
— Ahmed Khabeer احمد خبیر (@AhmedKhabeer_) July 4, 2023
pic.twitter.com/idNqBLxSQy
More details
Man was allegedly asked to lick 'urinated' ground
In one of the videos, a police officer was seen trying to get a hold of the man, but the mob took him toward the incident spot and shoved his face to the ground. He was reportedly asked to lick the area where he allegedly relieved himself. Per NDTV, Muslims from the neighboring Sangapur village later gathered at the spot to protest.
Further information
Gajwel is Telangana CM KCR's constituency
Some media outlets reported that the Muslim crowd called for a bandh on Tuesday, while others said the Hindu mob called for a one-day strike. Following the incident, the police beefed up security and patrolling in the area. On Tuesday, many shops and commercial establishments were reportedly closed in parts of Gajwel, the legislative constituency of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.