Arsheed Ahmad, TwoCircles.net
Betawad (Maharashtra): Suleman Pathan’s ambition to serve his country ended not with a uniform, but with funeral rites. A resident of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, the 21-year-old had recently passed his 12th-grade exams and was preparing to join the police or the Army.
On what should have been an ordinary Monday morning, he left home for Jamner town to submit an application form to the state police department. But he never returned. Hours later, he was no longer alive.
He was allegedly lynched in broad daylight by a mob over a “fabricated” claim of “love jihad” (a right-wing conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of luring Hindu women into relationships to convert them to Islam).
The youngest in his family, he was a caring son and the only support for his aging parents. “He was the only hope we had,” quipped his father Rahim Khan Pathan, 55.
The deceased family believes he was lured to a cafe in Jamner, possibly by someone he knew, where he was seen in the company of a Hindu woman. Eyewitness accounts suggest that the cafe owner, upon seeing the two together, called a group of local youth with known links to Hindutva organisations.
Within minutes, a group of men allegedly entered the cafe. According to his relatives, they began beating Suleman in front of customers. The attack soon spilled outside, where the mob continued the assault on full public view. “He pleaded with them, but they showed no mercy,” said one of his relatives.
Suleman was allegedly forced into a vehicle and driven away. Along the route, his assailants reportedly continued beating him with sticks and iron rods. The path they took was winding (both geographically and tragically symbolic) moving from a local temple through several villages and ending in Betawad, his village.
A Final Assault, at Home
It was in Betawad, a few kilometres from his home, where the alleged brutality reached its peak. According to family members, now numbering over a dozen, the attackers resumed their assault at the local bus stand. “They used rods, sticks, kicked him repeatedly and even assaulted his private parts with a knife,” Rahim Khan recounted in his trembling voice.
Suleman’s family, including his mother, grandfather and sister, rushed to intervene but were themselves attacked. “When we tried to save him, they beat us too. No one helped. People were afraid. We are only a handful of Muslim families in the village,” said Bani Khan Pathan, the victim’s 80-year-old grandfather.
Khan, in desperation, tied his son to a two-wheeler and drove him to the nearest hospital. The private clinic refused to admit him due to the severity of his injuries. By the time they reached the district hospital, it was too late. At 4:30 p.m., six hours after he had left home, he was declared dead.
An Investigation, a Plea for Justice
Later that evening, the police registered a case against five named individuals (Abhishek Rajput, Ranjeet Matade, Aaditya Devre, Krishna Teli and Sojwal Teli) along with 12 unidentified men. Suleman’s family believes the motive was rooted in the communal rhetoric surrounding so-called “love jihad”.
“They used this lie to justify murder. They took his life for a story they made up,” another relative said.
The family is now calling for the arrest of all accused and the harshest possible punishment. “We will go to the High Court, even the Supreme Court, if we have to. He was our only son. We want justice,” said Khan.
While several political leaders have visited the family to offer condolences, the local Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature has not made an appearance. For the grieving parents, that silence is as loud as the violence that took their son.
Though brief, Suleman’s life was full of promise and purpose. “He wanted to serve the country. That is all he talked about. Unfortunately, he was stripped off a chance,” said a neighbour.
Silence envelopes the Pathan family’s home. The road to justice is long, but for the family, it is the only path forward.