The similarities between the two killings of Kanhaiya Lal and Kishan Bharwad by Islamists.

On 28 th of June 2022, a Hindu common man Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered by beheading. This incident took place in Udaipur. The man had made a post on social media in which he supported Nupur Sharma, a former spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janta Party. The two Islamists who conducted the assassination of the poor tailor Kanhaiya Lal in broad daylight made even a video of the assassination and posted it on social media. In that video, they also said that they had killed him because he had insulted their Prophet, Mohammed. They even openly threatened to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi similarly and they said this with a broad grin on their faces.

Within hours of that heinous crime, the murders were identified and arrested, one of them was Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and the other one was Mohammed Gos. In an older video, the killers also went viral in which they threatened to kill anyone who dared to insult Prophet Mohammed or their religion. He also influenced other Islamists to kill anyone who dared to insult Islam.

After Kanhaiya Lal had made that post, a complaint was filed against him by his neighbor. Based on the complaint he was arrested but was later released on bail. But days after his arrest was continuously given life threats over phone calls by the Islamists. Being frightened by these phone calls Kanhaiya Lal approached the police for Police protection but the Police ignored his request. The police had earlier called the Islamists giving death threats to Kishan Lal and made them sign an agreement stating that they would not indulge anymore in threatening him. The Police used this signed agreement as an excuse to deny Kishan Lal’s request for police protection for his security.

Due to the fear of being watched, he did not open his shop for six days. But as his tailor shop was his only source of earning someday or other, he had to open his shop. After six days, he opened his tailor shop and that itself he was brutally murdered by those two Islamists.

A similar incident occurred on 25 th of January 2022 when a youth named Kishan Bharwad was shot dead in Dhandhuka (Ahmedabad) by two bike-riding assassins for his social media post about Prophet Mohammed. After Kishan had made this post, a huge mob of Islamists reached the police station demanding action against Kishan. When Kishan arrived at the station he was beaten up by the mob and was made to apologize. But things did not end up here, he was arrested under the pressure of the Islamists. On the same day, Kishan’s wife gave birth to her daughter. A day after his arrested Kishan’s father arranged bail for him and he was sent to his uncle’s home to live there for a few days. But in desperation to see his little daughter he left his uncle’s house on a bike with his cousin. At 4 PM he came back and at 5:30 PM he was assassinated.

After investigation, it was found out that a racket led by the Maulvi had performed the assassination on his commands after which multiple arrests were made.

In both assassinations of Kanhaiya Lal and Kishan Dharwad, we can trace a few similarities. Both of them were arrested and made to apologize for their social media post but later got bailed. Both of them received death threats. Even after they apologized for their deeds, they are not able to live a normal life. They tried to escape death for many days but were at last brutally murdered for just a simple social media post which some people thought was profanity. In every case, once the Islamists accuse anyone of blasphemy his or her life can never be back to normal. 

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