The Muslim man who was killed after a scuffle at a cricket match in Chikhodra, a village in Anand district in Gujarat, has left behind his one-month pregnant wife. Salman Vohra, 22, died after he was mercilessly beaten by a group of Hindu men on 22 June. His uncle, Noman Vohra, claimed that the deceased had gone just to watch the match.
The reports suggest that there was communal tension in the air for some time. The crowd rooted for the players, with clear division on religious lines. It is pertinent to note that both teams had Muslim players, though one team had a lesser number of them than the one winning. Around 5,000 people watched the tournament.
The immediate cause of the scuffle that resulted in the gruesome death of the Muslim boy was a dispute in the parking place. It is reported that a few men entered into a heated argument with Salman Vohra, the deceased, over parking space. They bullied him to move his vehicle so that theirs could be accommodated. The men returned with more in their group and attacked a person named Suhel, mistaking him for Salman. Salman intervened to save Suhel and succumbed to injuries inflicted upon him by the group of men. The post-mortem report mentions that a knife had entered the kidney. Two other Muslim men were also injured in the incident.
Anand Rural police lodged the FIR on June 23 applying sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 143 (Punishment for unlawful assembly), 147 (Punishment for rioting), 148 (Being armed with a deadly weapon) 302 (Murder), and 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon).
Police arrested seven accused, namely Mehul alias Gheto Dineshbhai Parmar, Kiran alias Holo Mafatbhai Parmar, and Mahendra alias Fulio Rameshbhai Vaghela. Others arrested include Akshay alias Ako Narsinghbhai Parmar, Ratilal Raisingbhai Parmar, Vijay alias Pakorani Mangalbhai Parmar (all from Chikhodara), and Ketan Mahendrabhai Patel from Vaghasi. The court has given seven days remand for all these accused.
Congress has condemned the incident and said that recent political discourse is responsible for such communal behaviour in people who had been living together in harmony for ages.
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