Bahraich Mob Violence: The Known, the ‘Not Known’ and the Unexplained

In videos posted on social media, the young man is seen on the roof of a single-storeyed house pulling down a green flag fluttering there. Somebody hands him a saffron flag which he waves vigorously, flexes his muscles and poses triumphantly with arms raised, while raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

Pumped up by the mob in front of the house, he continues raising war cries. The house, it was later reported, belonged to a Muslim and the inmates were cowering inside. The mob was part of a procession that was meandering through the small district town of Bahraich, 125 Kms from Lucknow, to immerse the Durga idol.

Why the young man chose to climb to the roof of the house is not clear though. What could be heard, however, was raucious music and shouts by the mob egging him on. That triumphant video clip did not, however, capture his death a few minutes later. Several shots were fired from inside the house, claimed eyewitness accounts and the mob dispersed, leaving the young man behind.

A member of the Muslim household later surrendered to the police and accepted responsibility for firing the shots. He apparently told neighbours, community members and the police that not just Mishra but three young men had climbed to the roof of the house.

While pulling down the gree flag, however, they managed to pull down the railing also and broke the ladder they had used to climb. Unable to go down the ladder, the young men tried to go out through the courtyard.

The household panicked at the thought of the mob having entered the house and opened fire, killing Mishra but two others with him managed to escape. The man who opened fire claimed that Mishra was abusing Muslims and insulting the womenfolk, which also enraged him.

The narrative spread on social media and by the Sangh Parivar, however, is that the ‘peaceful’ procession was attacked by Muslims, stones were pelted and firearms were used and Mishra died in the firing. Muslims have countered it by pointing out that the mob was rowdy, played offensive music loudly, lingered in the Muslim locality and jeered at the community.

Slogans and the act of ‘heroism’ by Mishra were the final straws. By all accounts, the procession resumed after some time and the idol was immersed on Sunday. If policemen were present, the clips did not show them in action.

It was on Monday when a much bigger mob gathered at the funeral of the deceased young man and went on the rampage. Video clips shared on social media by local journalists show aggressive teenagers and young men armed with sticks outnumbered the police.

The mob kept swelling and a five-thousand-strong mob set fire to Muslim houses and shops on the way, burned vehicles parked outside, vandalised and burnt down a dispensary called ‘Lucknow Seva Hospital’ and the adjacent showroom of Hero Motor Corporation. The damage is yet to be estimated.

Meanwhile Mishra’s young widow, married four months ago, was seen demanding that her husband’s assailants be given as painful a death as her late husband. The local BJP MLA on Tuesday escorted the family to meet the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow.

The following questions, however, remain unanswered:

1.   Why was the procession allowed to linger in the Muslim locality and why was music not switched off temporarily.

2.  If it was not a political procession, why were provocative slogans allowed to be raised?

3.  Were police caught napping on both the days? Didn’t they take the standard precaution of forming peace committees and engage with community leaders?

4.  Why was the body of the deceased handed over to the family after the post-mortem and why was the mob allowed to march with the body for several kilometres?

With byelections to 10 assembly constituencies round the corner in the state, there is strong suspicion that the unfortunate death of the young man is being used to fan communal frenzy and polarise the voters by claiming that Hindus in Uttar Pradesh are faced with an existential threat.