Bihar unrest: 3 Muslims burnt alive in communal violence

Arson attack on Muslim houses triggered by discovery of Hindu boy’s body

NEW DELHI: Police have arrested nine people after a mob torched a house and burnt to death three Muslim men in an outbreak of communal violence in northern India, an official said on Monday.

The attack in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district was triggered by the discovery of the body of a teenage Hindu boy, allegedly murdered by family members of a Muslim girl who objected to the pair's suspected relationship. Nineteen-year-old Bhartendu Kumar reportedly fell in love with a Muslim girl from an adjoining village and when the relationship became public, the girl’s brother Sadaqat alias Vikki warned Kumar not to meet the girl.

When Kumar persisted, he was kidnapped, murdered and his body tied in a gunny bag and tossed in a wheat field in his native village of Saraiya, 64 miles from the state capital Patna.

When his body was found on Sunday, a mob armed with sticks and other sharp weapons attacked the house of one of the people suspected by Kumar's family of kidnapping and murdering him, police said. Rioters set the house on fire, killing three residents and injuring two others. Police said 10 adjoining houses were also gutted and 15 vehicles damaged in the violence, which lasted for four hours Sunday morning.

Police in riot gear patrolled the village and tensions remained high as Chief Minister of the state, Jitan Ram Majjhi, who was on a pilgrimage, returned to Bihar. “We have identified the attackers and nine accused have been arrested,” said district police chief Paras Nath. "The hunt is on for others.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2015.