An imam in India has died after his family alleged he was beaten and thrown from a moving train in northern India, raising fresh concerns about Hindutva mob violence targeting minorities during travel.
Maulana Tousif Raza Mazhari, 30, from Bihar in eastern India, was found dead near railway tracks close to Bareilly station in Uttar Pradesh on April 26.
Authorities have described the incident as an accident, but his family insists he was attacked by fellow passengers.
Mazhari, an imam and madrasa teacher, had travelled to Bareilly to attend the Urs of Tajusharia, a Sufi commemoration marking the death anniversary of a revered scholar, and was returning home when the incident occurred.
Family accusations
His wife, Tabassum Khatoon, claims she witnessed the alleged assault during a phone call with her husband shortly before his death.
“He called me while he was on the train. He sounded frightened and said people were beating him,” she told 5 Pillars.
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According to her, the attackers accused Mazhari of theft.
“He kept saying, ‘I am not a thief, I teach at a madrasa,’ and tried to show them his books on video. I was shouting on the call, asking others to help him, but no one intervened,” she said.
Khatoon said she saw him being dragged and assaulted during the call. “They were slapping him and pulling him by the collar,” she said.
She believes her husband may have been targeted because of his visible Muslim identity, including his beard and religious cap.
The family disputes the official version that Mazhari fell from the train in a freak accident.
“If he had fallen, his body would have been severely damaged,” Khatoon said. “Instead, there were clear signs of beating.”
She said she repeatedly tried calling him after the incident but received no response until a police officer later answered his phone.
“They first told me he was injured, and later confirmed he had died,” she said.
Mazhari’s body was later taken to a local police station in Bareilly, where authorities informed the family.
Fear and anger
The incident has sparked fear in Mazhari’s home district of Kishanganj in Bihar, where many residents rely on long-distance trains to travel to cities like Delhi and Mumbai for work.
Local activist Tawangar Hussain Baghi said the death has left the community shaken.
“People are now afraid to travel. Some have cancelled their tickets because they fear they could be attacked,” he said.
Baghi also alleged that Mazhari may have been singled out due to his identity.
“Because of his beard, cap and Muslim name, he may have been targeted. This is not an accident, this is murder,” he claimed.
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The case has drawn comparisons with past incidents in India where Muslim men have been attacked following accusations such as theft or other bogus allegations.
Rights groups have long warned of a climate of impunity in such cases, with families often alleging delays in justice and inadequate investigations.
Mazhari’s family has demanded a full and transparent inquiry, insisting his death was not an accident but a killing for which those responsible must be held accountable.
India has witnessed a sharp rise in Islamophobic attacks on Muslims across the country amid the rise of the Hindu supremacist Hindutva ideology.
Hindutva spread hate against other religious minorities in the South Asia country, in particular, Hindutva preachers incite hatred against Indian Muslims – in some cases, openly calling for them to be attacked or ethnically cleansed from India.
