'My Husband Was Killed For His Religious Identity'

A street vendor in Bihar's Nawada district died after a group of youth tortured him for hours because he was Muslim.

Readers please note: Disturbing descriptions of assault and torture ahead.

"We want justice, only justice," says Shabnam Perween, wife of Mohammad Athar Hussain, a victim of a hate crime in Bihar.

"Was my husband not a human being? He was killed for his religious identity. We want justice, justice in the real sense, not merely on paper," says Shabnam Perween.

Mohammad Athar Hussain succumbed to serious internal injuries on December 12 six days after he was brutally beaten and tortured for hours by a group of youth in Bhatta village under the Roh police station in Nawada district, Bihar.

Hussain, 40, originally a native of a village in Nalanda district, sold clothes on his bicycle in rural areas in neighbouring Nawada for over a decade while living at his in-laws' home in Nawada.

He was attacked by a group of 10 people late on December 5 evening. They snatched cash from him, looted the wares he had on his bicycle, assaulted him and tortured him.

"My world has ended. We have no one to turn to for help. Our lives will be full of struggle for survival," says Shabnam Perween, a woman in her early 30s.

"My husband was neither a criminal nor a goon," she asserts, "he worked hard daily to earn a livelihood by visiting villages to sell clothes. He was killed for being a Muslim. His clothes were removed, he was made fully naked on a winter night, beaten and tortured," Shabnam Perween adds, inconsolable after her husband's death.

The couple has three children and Shabnam Perween is worried how she will bring them up after her husband's death.

"He was killed for his religious identity if his on camera statement before his death on the hospital bed is to go by," she says repeatedly.

According to the video recorded statement reported in local newspapers, Athar Hussain said on the fateful night when his bicycle was punctured while returning home, he asked a few youth gathered around a fire if there was any shop nearby which could fix the puncture. The youth snatched Rs 8,000 from him and then asked his name.

After he revealed his name, the men attacked him, forcibly took him to a room, assaulted him, removed his clothes and tortured him till he fell unconscious.

In his statement recorded on camera Athar Hussain reportedly said after he revealed his name the men forced him to remove his clothes. The men checked his genitals to confirm his religious identity.

Mohammad Chand, Athar Hussain's brother, said there is no doubt that his brother was killed for his religious identity.

"They would have left him after snatching his cash and beating him but they tortured him by connecting electricity to his private parts and poured petrol. They also cut his ear by a plier. Such torture is not even done to a animal," says Chand.

"It was done to him on the basis of his religious identity. This is horrific."

Chand says his brother in his recorded statement revealed that an iron rod was inserted in his genitals, he was beaten on the head by the same rod, and his hand was broken.

After the men tortured him for hours, they left him by the road side. The police later admitted Hussain to a local government hospital for treatment.

Shabnam Perween and Mohammad Chand demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's government arrest all the accused.

The victim's family alleged that a false case of theft was registered against Athar Hussain by the men accused of this heinous crime.

Shabnam Perween has lodged a case against 10 named accused and 15 unknown accused in connection with her husband's killing at the local police station.

The district police have arrested 7 of the 10 accused named in the case.

Ranjan Kumar, a police official, said the postmortem report of the victim confirmed assault and internal injuries. A forensic team visited the site of the crime to collect evidence.

This shocking incident has come to light within a month of the National Democratic Alliance returning to power in Bihar; Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, a senior Bharatiya Janat Party leader, is the state's home minister. This is the first time since 2005 that the home department is not under Nitish Kumar's charge.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff