In recent years, Hindu lynch mobs under the leadership of Hindu nationalist organizations including RSS and the ruling party BJP have turned Ram’s name into a murder cry. The implication of making Muslims chant “Jai Shri Ram” is that India is a country for Hindus only and that Muslims, the largest minority in the country must praise Hindu deities if they want to survive in the country.
Here is a list of Muslims who were killed or brutally attacked by Hindu mob after they refused to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
Hamza, Aamin, Bhure Ali, Mursalin, Aas Mohd, Musharraf, Akil Ahmed, and Hashim Ali and his elder brother Aamir Khan
Hindu rioters killed Hamza, Aamin, Bhure Ali, Mursalin, Aas Mohd, Musharraf, Akil Ahmed, and Hashim Ali and his elder brother Aamir Khan, nine Muslims after they refused to chant “Jai Shri Ram” during the large-scale anti-Muslim violence that broke out in the North-East district of the Capital in February 2020.
The rioters used a WhatsApp group to coordinate their activities and offer manpower or ammunition when required. The WhatsApp group – Kattar Hindu Ekta – was created on February 25 at 12.49 pm “to take revenge on Muslims,” the police said in a chargesheet.
Investigation revealed that the accused bludgeoned nine Muslims to death in the Ganga Vihar-Bhagirathi Vihar area between the morning of February 25 and February 26 midnight.
Read more: https://scroll.in/latest/966461/delhi-riots-9-killed-were-forced-to-chant-jai-shri-ram-assault-planned-on-whatsapp-say-police
Tabrez Ansari
24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was brutally thrashed by a Hindu mob for several hours on June 17 2019 in Jharkhand. After being asked to disclose his name, he was tied to a pole, thrashed, and made to chant “Jai Shri Ram.”
The next morning, instead of ensuring immediate medical care for Ansari, the police locked him up on charges of theft. His relatives requested the police, to take Ansari to a hospital. Police reportedly told them that he would break his bones and lock him up too if he did not go away. Four days later, Ansari succumbed to his injuries and it was only then that the police filed a case against the assaulters.
Read more: https://maktoobmedia.com/2019/06/23/muslim-made-to-chant-jai-shri-ram-and-lynched-in-jharkhand/
Maulana Asad Raza Hussaini and students
66-year-old Muslim cleric Maulana Asad Raza Hussaini who ran an orphanage for children, stripped, beaten and abused by Uttar Pradesh Police bearing allegiance to Yogi Adityanath Government. The police also detained and assaulted almost all the maulana’s 100-odd students from the Saadat hostel-cum-orphanage in Muzaffarnagar town, many of them minors and most of them orphans. They were forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. This incident took place on December 20, 2019 afternoon after police violence at an anti-citizenship act protest nearby.
The students — aged 14 to 21 — were abused, thrashed with sticks through the night and forced to kneel against the wall.
Read more: https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/uttar-pradesh-police-accused-of-stripping-cleric/cid/1731127
Mohammad Israil
Mohammad Israil, an 18-year-old Muslim youth was going to his friend’s place to charge his phone because there was no electricity. While traveling there he got surrounded by a Hindu mob who asked him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Bathna Village of East Champaran district of Bihar. This incident took place on 2 June 2020.
When he denied chanting the slogan he was brutally beaten up by those miscreants. They also tried to slit his throat with a sharp object and left him there thinking he was dead. But he survived the attack on him.
Mohammed Artazaa
Mohammed Artazaa was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by three youths near the crowded Railway Road, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh in November 22, 2019. On opposing their actions, they cursed him and fled the scene. The situation was such that the men had shouted at the victim to raise the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ but he ignored and kept walking but after a small distance, he was again stopped by the three men and asked to shout, which he denied. On seeing his refusal, they started cursing him and left before any help could arrive. The incident has been reported to the Police but they have shown a callous attitude towards this matter.
Read more: https://archive.org/details/deobanduttarpradeshindiajaishriram
Shahrukh Chohan
Shahrukh Chohan, was brutally assaulted and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by three Hindu nationalists on 4 August 2019. They beat him with sticks and rods and tried to choke him. He was told to ‘Go to Pakistan’ by the assailants and if it were not for the people in the area, Shahrukh Chohan wouldn’t have been alive.
Read more: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1TrOMolQ4N/
Hafiz Sohel Bhagat, Hafiz Samir Bhagat, Hafiz Salman Gheeteli
Hafiz Sohel Bhagat, Hafiz Samir Bhagat, Hafiz Salman Gheeteli, three young Muslims were brutally assaulted in Godhra after they refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on 1 August 2019.
At about 11 PM, the boys were passing through Bawani Madhi, a neighborhood inhabited predominantly by members of the majority community, on their motorcycles. A Hindu mob asked them to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. When the boys refused, they were assaulted with weapons including knives. They hit Muslim students with a bicycle chain and a blunt object on their forehead and head.
Khalid Ansari
Khalid Ansari, a 15-year-old Muslim boy was set on fire by four people in Chandauli district when the boy refused to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
The incident took place on July 28, 2019 night and the boy has been admitted in Kabir Chaura hospital in Varanasi. The condition of the boy with 60 per cent burns was said to be critical. The teenager was set on fire when he refused to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. He gave this statement on the hospital’s camera. “I was walking on Dudhari bridge when four men kidnapped me. Two of them tied my hand and third one started pouring kerosene. After which they set me on fire and ran away,” he said. He also said that he was being forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
Read more: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/teenager-refuses-to-say-jai-shri-ram-set-ablaze
Imran Ismail Patel
Imran Ismail Patel was beaten up by a group of people and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, on 19 July 2019. Patel, a hotel employee, said in his complaint that a gang of around ten people stopped him near Hudco Corner in Begumpura Aurangabad when he was returning home on his motorbike. They beat him up and forced him to say “Jai Shri Ram”, he claimed.
Asif Majeed Qureshi
Asif Majeed Qureshi, a resident of Deshmukhwadi, in Jalgaon was beaten up by a Hindu mob while he was shopping for vegetables from the market. The incident occurred on 16 July 16.
According to his statement in a video, “they forced me to chant Jai Shree Ram” Qureshi says and upon his refusal, they started beating him again and again.
Read more: https://archive.org/details/manattackedforrefusingtochantjaishriraminjalgaonmaharashtra
Rajab Alam
Rajab Alam, an eleven years old Madrasa student was brutally assaulted by a group that forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The incident took place while the boy was on the way to his Madrasa on 15 July 2019. The boy sustained serious injuries and was admitted to a nearby hospital. The local residents blocked the traffic at NH 34 and the road was reopened 2 hours later with assurance to arrest the perpetrators. Four were arrested while remaining were absconding.
Read more: https://www.siasat.com/madrasa-student-beaten-not-saying-jai-shree-ram-1548300/
Imlaq ur Rehman
Imlaq ur Rehman, a Muslim cleric was assaulted by 12 Hindu youths when he was on the way to his village. They forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, beaten him and pulled his beard. They also told him to enter the village only with a clean shave. An FIR was lodged against four persons – Kranti Singh, Aditya Shukla, Kamal and one unidentified person – in the case.
Read more: https://thewire.in/rights/muslim-cleric-assaulted-jai-sri-ram-uttar-pradesh
Abdul Waris, Muqaddis, Ali, Haroon
Abdul Waris, Muqaddis, Ali and Haroon, a group of Madrassa students were brutally attacked when they were playing at the GIC ground in Unnao on 11 July 2019. The students were forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, beaten with a cricket bat and their kurtas torn. Four students sustained injuries to their heads and arms.
According to Maulana at the Madarasa Naeem Kham, the incident took place on Thursday when students of Darul Uloom Faiz-E-Aam situated in Sadar area of Unnao went out to the GIC ground to play cricket. Police have registered a case in this incident and have identified three accused tracing their Facebook accounts. Accused have purportedly identified themselves as members of Bajrang Dal in their social media accounts. The Imam of Jama Masjid has demanded quick probe into the matter and arrest of the accused at the earliest possible.
Sabir Khan
Sabir Khan, a muslim man in Asansol in West Bengal physically assaulted for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram” by Dilip Nonia and his friends. Victim Sabir Khan is resident of Ward No. 73 of Asansol Municipal Corporation.
This incident took place on 8 July 2019.
Read more: https://archive.org/details/manbeatenforcedtochantjaishriraminasansolwestbengal
Mohammed Javed Naseem
Mohammed Javed Naseem was attacked as he was on his way home. Around 10 people surrounded him and questioned his identity. On denying the same, a few of the mob shouted that he was in fact a Muslim and started hitting him. This incident took place on 5 July 2019.
Naseem tried resisting them but then they asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to which he vehemently refused. The mob got furious and became violent. He somehow managed to save himself and reach a safe spot. In a video recording, he claimed that people in the area only watched him get beaten and didn’t come forward to help. Grave injuries were inflicted.
Read more: https://twitter.com/doamuslims/status/1147219700318912514
Aamir Wasim, Altaf Ali, Ali Ahmed
A Hindu mob attacked Aamir Wasim, Altaf Ali and Ali Ahmed and forced them to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The youths, who sustained injuries, were immediately admitted to hospital. This incident took place on 5 July 2019.
Aamir Wasim, who had lodged a complaint at the Doranda police station in Ranchi, said he and his friends, Altaf Ali and Ali Ahmed, had gone to the airport area to take photographs. “We were riding our two-wheelers and were in kurta pajama when some people besieged us. Without any provocation, they beat us up and told us to chant Jai Shri Ram. As the crowd got bigger, we fled from the spot,” said Mr. Wasim, and added security personnel near Birsa Munda Airport rescued them.
Atib
Atib, an auto driver was assaulted by three Hindu men when he refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on their order on 3 July 2019.
The family of the victim said that he was driving his auto-rickshaw when the three attackers — Sumit, Rajesh and Shiva — got inside his auto and asked to be dropped at another location. Upon reaching the destination, they started quarrelling with him, claiming they did not have any money to pay the fare. During this, they asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and when Atib refused, took him to the nearby Sulabh toilet and thrashed him. His condition has been reported as serious.
Taj Mohammad
Taj Mohammad, a 16-year-old Muslim boy was beaten by a Hindu mob in Kanpur for wearing a traditional skull cap and refusing to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. The incident occurred on 29 June 2019 when Mohammad Taj, a resident of Barra, was returning home after offering namaz in Kidwai Nagar.
The attackers asked the teenager to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, and kicked and punched him badly after he refused to do so. “They removed my cap, pinned me down and beat me black and blue while asking me to chant ”Jai Shri Ram”,” Mohammad Taj told PTI. The 16-year-old alleged that the men told him that wearing the skull cap was “not allowed” in the area.
Faizal Usman Khan
Faizal Usman Khan, a 25-year-old cab driver from Mumbai physically assaulted by a group of three men named Mangesh Munde, 30, Anil Surywanshi, 22, and Jaydeep Munde, 26, who are resident of Diva. While driving on Agasan Road in Diva, his vehicle developed some glitch. Khan kept trying to start his vehicle and since it was dark, he had switched on the parking lights,” said an officer from Mumbra police station. He added, “Sometime later, three men riding on a scooter spotted Khan’s vehicle and started abusing him, though Khan was polite to them. The trio, however, dragged Khan out of his car and allegedly started assaulting him. Seeing Khan being beaten up, the passenger fled,” the officer said. Speaking to Mirror, Khan said, “I told them Allah ke vaste, Mujhe maat maaro, Mujhe chhod do (For God sake, do not hit me, let me go). They then forced me to chant Jai Shri Ram. They kept hitting me until I lost my consciousness. Later I found myself in the car, with my mobile phone stolen.”
This incident took place on 23 June 2019.
Maulana Momin
Maulana Momin, a Muslim cleric was hit by a car after refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on 22 June 2019.
The car had 3 people in it and they had earlier spoken to the Maulana asking for his well-being. The Maulana replied after which they asked him to chant the slogan to which he replied that he wouldn’t but they were free to do so. After this conversation he started walking towards the mosque he teaches in but before he could reach, the people in the car hit him in the back due to which he was flung in the air and lost consciousness after falling. A passerby called the Police and brought him to the hospital.
Group of Muslim men
A group of Muslim men were forced to chant slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Pakistan Muradabad’, and were beaten up a less-known right-wing organization called Sri Ram Sena on 21 June 2019.
All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) and the North-East Minorities Students’ Union (NEMSU) helped the victims register FIRs against the perpetrators. The incident came to light after a video of the same surfaced on social media.
Read more: https://www.thequint.com/news/india/muslim-men-attacked-in-assam-barpeta-forced-to-say-jai-shri-ram
Muslim woman
A 23-year-old hijab-clad student of a medical college in north Bengal was threatened and intimidated by a group of 10-12 men chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ inside the institution campus on 26 May 2019.
“I along with a friend around 10 PM was returning from the canteen after dinner when we saw a group of 10-12 men standing on the road. We were walking on our own but after noticing my attire they started shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while pointing fingers at us. Later they started thumping their feet to intimidate us. We immediately ran away to save ourselves,” said the final-year medical student. “I am a hijab-wearing Muslim, I always wear this attire. I have never faced such harassment in my life. There was no one in the street that day to save us. Is this how we have to live now?” she added.
Mohammad Barkat
Mohammad Barkat, a Muslim man was beaten up on Saturday by a group of men at Jacubpura in Gurugram on 25 May 2019. The 25-year-old was returning to his shop after offering prayers when the group accosted him, and asked him to remove his skullcap and chant Bharat Mata ki Jai and Jai Shri Ram.
Mohammad Barkat said that the men threatened to feed him pork when he refused to listen to them. “One of the men called me an offensive word and told me that skullcap was not allowed in this area,” Barkat told The Hindu. “When I told him that I was returning from a mosque, he slapped me. He also asked me to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Jai Shri Ram. When I refused, he threatened to feed me pork.”
Maulana Azharul Islam, Maulana Imran
While returning home from the evening Travih prayers night,Maulana Azharul Islam, Maulana Imran, two cleric brothers were brutally beaten up by a Hindu mob under Nagri police station area in Ranchi. The incident was reported on 10 June 10, 2018 when the Maulanas were returning from the Travih prayers from a nearby mosque in Agru village at around 10 PM.
The complaint said that Maulana Azharul Islam and his brother Maulana Imran were on the way to their home in Naya Sarai village when some 20 bike-borne men stopped them mid-way and asked them to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. When the brothers refused, they assaulted the brothers while hurling casteist, communal abuses at them. “They asked them to chant Jai Shri Ram. When they refused to do so, they were assaulted with lathi and hockey sticks. One brother, Maulana Imran, managed to flee but Maulana Mazharul Islam was brutally assaulted by the mob,” local human rights lawyer Shadab Ansari said.
Abul Bashar, Bedana Bibi
“My only fault was that I am a Muslim and I entered a Hindu-dominated area,” Abul Bashar, 67, who is blind and begs for a living, told The Indian Express Sunday. Bashar and his wife Bedana Bibi, 61, also blind, were forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Maa Tara” — and assaulted — by a group at Chitadanga area of Andal in West Bengal’s West Burdwan district. A video of Bashar being forced to chant the words has gone viral. It was not immediately clear whether anyone in the group belonged to any Hindu outfit.
The incident was reported on 2 April 2018.
Unidentified Muslim
A 45-year-old Muslim man in Rajasthan’s Sirohi city was repeatedly slapped and harassed by forcing him to say “Jai Shri Ram”. In a video clip that he took of the episode, the 18-year old, who identifies himself as Vinay Kumar Meena, is seen slapping the Muslim man over 20 times, abusing him and trying to coerce him to say “Jai Shri Ram”. After a while, the victim responds by saying, “Parvardigaar sabse bada hai [God is the greatest].” Meena then continues to slap the man. Sirohi Superintendent of Police Om Prakash told the news agency that Meena was arrested. He said the police have charged the accused with “voluntarily causing hurt, promoting enmity, hurting religious sentiments and breaking peace”.
The incident took place on 5 February 2018.
Abdul Sameer, Sadiq, Shaukat Ali
Abdul Sameer, Sadiq and Shaukat Ali, three Muslim youth dragged out of their vehicle and brutally assaulted by a group of people who shouted “Jai Shri Ram” slogans during the attack on 23 August 2014.
Note: The following are prepared as per the DOTO Database, an online platform for the large scale documentation of religious identity-based violence in India.
