Muslims observe 'Black Eid' over Haryana lynching

A majority of Meos (Muslims) in Haryana's Mewat region on Monday observed a "Black Eid" by tying black bands on their arms to protest against the lynching of a young man four days ago.

The Muslim community in Mewat and adjoining region decided to express its anguish in the wake of the June 22 lynching of 19-year-old Junaid on a moving train by a group of people.

Junaid, a resident of Khandwali village near Ballabgarh, and four others were attacked by a group of people who called them "beef eaters" and "anti-national".

Beside Junaid, a 55-year-old Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Mewat's Jaisinghpur village, was lynched by cow vigilantes on April 1 in Behror area of Alwar district in Rajasthan.

Many said they were also upset over the manner biryani samples were being collected to know if it was beef or not.

Mewat resident Kasim Khan told IANS that people could not have celebrated Eid with the usual sense of joy considering how Junaid and Pehlu Khan were killed.

"So we decided to mark our protest by wearing black bands around our arms," he said.

Junaid was stabbed to death on June 22 on a Mathura-bound train which he had boarded with his two brothers after shopping at Delhi's Sadar Bazar area.

A group of miscreants hurled communal slur at the brothers and attacked them.

One of those arrested over Junaid's killing, before being remanded to police custody by a court in Faridabad on Saturday, told reporters that he was drunk at the time of the incident and attacked the teenager after being allegedly instigated by fellow passengers.

Khan also wondered why only one arrest had been made so far although four days had passed since Junaid was killed.

--IANS

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