Friday, March 29, 2024

“We still don’t know why he was killed,” says children of Muslim man lynched in UP

Dawood Ali Tyagi and Sharukh Tyagi

On 02 September 2022, around 10:15 pm., Dawood Ali Tyagi, a resident of Vinaypur village in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, was sitting on a cot outside his home while talking on the phone.

Dawood’s nephew Naeem Tyagi and his neighbour Akram were sitting next to him. 

Suddenly, six to seven bikes with armed men reached the spot and jumped on Tyagi. They recklessly started beating Dawood.

Witnesses claimed that the “assailants fled while firing and shouting Jai Shri Ram.” Lubna, Dawood’s daughter, saw the incident and ran to her father.

“I saw everything happen right in front of my eyes. I was numb,” Lubna Tyagi told Maktoob.

“I don’t think a single part of my father’s body was left where it wasn’t bruised or bleeding. Those men were firing in the air to scare off everyone, and no one dared to save my father. 16-17 people were beating up my father. What chance did he have of surviving such a heinous attack?”

The family took him to a hospital in Meerut where he died the next day.

“We are clueless as to why this happened to our father. The police have arrested 4 people and have said to arrest more but there has been no progress,” Shahrukh Tyagi, Dawood’s eldest son, told Maktoob.

Dawood Tyagi was a farmer and the sole bread earner of his family. He lived with his three sons, a daughter and his wife. His eldest son Shahrukh Tyagi completed his post-graduation in MSc Technology from Jamia Millia Islamia this year.

When it comes to lynching cases, most crimes happen due to hurt sentiments, which take place because of offensive actions. But the most unusual aspect of Dawood’s case is how he had no enemies in his lifetime and was considered a simple yet honourable man in the entire region.

“The investigation might be progressing on their level, but we don’t know anything. When we asked them, they said they will soon arrest those criminals.” –

The two younger brothers are also graduates of Jamia Millia whereas Lubna has completed her schooling at a local school. 

Even after a month and a half after the incident, Lubna has not been able to forget those horrible memories of that night.

Shahrukh told Maktoob that when they brought the body back to the village, there was immense tension in the village.

All the shops were shut, markets closed and people were standing in groups, the situation was that of a potential riot.

Then on 5th October, when two family members — Shahrukh’s younger brother and his uncle — went to visit Dawood’s farming grounds, some people followed and tried to corner them. The farming grounds of the accused and the victim are interconnected.

“As a broken family we are trying to bear this grief. We know what’s done is done. But my mother can’t give up as to why my father was murdered with such brutality. Everyone knows him to be one of the most reputable and respectable in the region. He never had even a speck of a fight with anyone in the village,” Shahrukh lamented

A promise of a government job has been given to the family by SDM Ajay Kumar Khekra and the case is still under investigation.

Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi and she studies English literature at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
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