On 25 June, when Asghar Ansari saw the body of his relative, Affan Abdul Ansari, it was in a profoundly distorted state, with nearly all of his bones fractured and numerous visible bruises and wounds covering his body.
32-year-old Affan, a resident of Mumbai, was on his way to transport meat in a car along with his friend Nasir Hussain Qureshi when he was brutally killed by the cow vigilante group on Samruddhi highway in Nashik, Maharashtra on 24 June.
While Affan was found dead on the spot, his friend Qureshi who was also beaten up, sustained severe injuries and suffered internal brain bleeding. Qureshi is now at King Edward Hospital in Mumbai in its intense care unit.
11 Hindu men have been arrested so far in the murder case. However, the police have also filed a case against Affan and Qureshi for allegedly killing an animal citing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
As per Maharashtra state laws, the consumption and sale of buffalo meat is allowed but the slaughter of bulls, bullocks, ox, oxen, and cows is banned.
The meat that was found in the car the duo was commuting in has been sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis, to check whether it was beef or red meat.
Asghar Ansari, Affan’s maternal uncle while explaining the entire ordeal to Maktoob said that Qureshi, Affan’s friend got an order to transport 450 kilograms of meat to Mumbai from the Sangamner area of Ahmednagar district. Qureshi asked Affan to accompany him to deliver the consignment and two started by the car, they borrowed from a relative, towards Sangamner. The car’s trunk was loaded with the order which was covered with black colored plastic.
“Affan was in the business of repairing air conditioners in Mumbai and its adjacent areas and was settled in Kurla with his wife and two daughters. As the family was growing, it was getting difficult for him to meet his family needs, so he decided to take this extra work of transporting cattle and meat recently”, said Asghar. “It was his first consignment with Qureshi.”
Qureshi, whose life was ‘luckily saved’ in the lynching attack is the only eyewitness of the incident.
In the statement given to the police, Qureshi said that while the duo was on their way to deliver the meat consignment, they were chased by some motorcycles and cars and then they were stopped, taken out from their car, and dragged off the highway some 7 km away from the spot in the forest area nearby Samruddhi Highway, near Ghoti Plaza.
Asghar further told Maktoob, “Qureshi, who is also like my child, told me that the vigilante group tied their hands with a rope behind their backs and then tied Affan to a tree and started beating him mercilessly with weapons.”
He said they had weapons like iron rods, pipes, edgy and sharp objects, and ropes to tie which they used while assaulting the duo.
Qureshi also told Asghar that both of them had an amount of around 45 thousand rupees and mobile phones and that the assaulters snatched from them. “They were demanding more.”
The two Muslim men were dropped back to their car parked on the Samruddhi highway and the vigilante group destroyed their car and left them in an injured condition.
“On 24 June, we got a call from the local police late at night at around 10 pm. By the time we reached Nashik on 25 June at 1 am, Affan had died already and Qureshi was in serious condition and was taken to a government hospital in Nashik”, said Ghulam Hussain Qureshi, Nasir’s father.
Affan’s body was sent to postmortem and the autopsy report underlined the reason for his death as a “case of severe head injury and hemorrhage due to severe trauma to the abdomen.”
The assailants are said to be the residents of villages in Nashik.
A local on the request of anonymity accused Rashtriya Swayem Sewak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva groups of inciting such incidents against Muslims to achieve the goal of ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Inayat Queshi, another local said, “While police quickly took the required action but the incident has created fear among citizens, especially while Eid is around the corner when there will be a lot of transport of cattle and meat.”
“Even the legal cattle and meat traders are scared to trade,” he said.
Deceased Affan was raised in his maternal home by his uncle Asghar and aunt Shagufta.
Asghar said: He grew up in my lap and now I buried his body with my own bare hands, he was like my own children and grew up in our home.”
Affan is survived by his wife and two daughters aged 5 and 3.
Explaining the position of Affan’s wife and daughters, Asghar said, “I can’t see the condition of his wife, it was their love marriage and his daughters are looking for him, we don’t have an answer.”
“Who will look after the three females who were emotionally and financially dependent on him (Affan)?” asked his uncle. “Nobody deserves this.”
However, the family has expectations of the law and believes that just will be served.
“We have faith in the law and are hopeful that action will be taken, then only Affan will get justice. Police should investigate the matter fairly and if anything is found illegal against any of the parties, they should be punished”, Asghar added.
He also demanded a law in place against ‘self-proclaimed cow vigilantes’ and said, ‘It is wrong to take the matter in hands, anyone should not be above the law.”
