On April 1, 2017, Pehlu Khan — a 55-year-old dairy farmer from Nuh, Haryana — was brutally beaten by a mob of self-styled “cow protectors” on the Jaipur-Delhi highway. He was returning home with two of his sons and two newly purchased cows. Within 48 hours, he was dead. His last words, captured on video: “They beat me… I told them I bought the cows legally… they didn’t listen.”
Pehlu Khan’s lynching was not an isolated incident. It was the spark that lit a fuse — a fuse that has been burning ever since, consuming lives, justice, and India’s constitutional conscience.
Since that day, lynching has become a normalized tool of terror against Indian Muslims — not in war zones, but in highways, villages, railway stations, and police custody. The victims are not militants. They are cattle traders, laborers, students, fathers, brothers. Their crime? Being Muslim in an India where suspicion is weaponized, and mob violence is rewarded with impunity.
Below is a non-exhaustive table of documented lynching cases targeting Muslims since Pehlu Khan — each entry a scar on India’s soul.
Documented Lynchings of Indian Muslims Since Pehlu Khan (2017–2025)
| Name | Date | Place | Circumstances | Status of Justice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pehlu Khan | April 1, 2017 | Alwar, Rajasthan | Beaten by cow vigilantes while transporting legally purchased cows. Died 2 days later. | 6 accused acquitted in 2019. Case reopened after public outcry. Still pending. |
| Rizwan, Arif, and Aslam | June 22, 2017 | Jharkhand (Latehar) | Three Muslim cattle traders lynched by mob. Video showed them pleading for mercy. | 11 arrested. Trial dragging. No convictions. |
| Mazloom Ansari & Imtiaz Khan | March 18, 2018 | Jharkhand (Pakur) | Hanged from a tree by mob accusing them of cow theft. | 8 arrested. Case stalled. Local police called it “spontaneous anger.” |
| Qasim | July 20, 2018 | Hapur, Uttar Pradesh | Lynched inside police station after being arrested on suspicion of cow slaughter. | 4 policemen suspended. No charges framed. Case buried. |
| Tabrez Ansari | June 17, 2019 | Jharkhand (Seraikela) | Tied to pole, forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram,” beaten for 12 hours. Died in custody. | 13 arrested. 8 acquitted in 2023. 2 convicted for “hurt,” not murder. |
| Junaid Khan | June 22, 2017 | Mathura-Delhi train | 16-year-old stabbed to death by Hindu passengers after religious argument. | 4 arrested. Trial ongoing. Delayed 17 times. |
| Ishrat Ansari | August 12, 2020 | Bihar (Khagaria) | Beaten to death by mob over rumor of cow slaughter. | 20 named in FIR. Only 3 arrested. No trial date set. |
| Zafar Khan | October 4, 2021 | Madhya Pradesh (Shivpuri) | Lynched by mob accusing him of transporting beef. Video went viral. | 9 arrested. Police called it “mob frenzy.” No conviction. |
| Mohsin Sheikh | February 18, 2022 | Maharashtra (Palghar) | Killed along with 2 Hindu sadhus by mob mistaking them for child kidnappers. | 105 arrested. All granted bail. Case collapsing. |
| Akbar Khan | March 3, 2023 | Rajasthan (Karauli) | Attacked during Hindu procession; died of injuries. Triggered communal riots. | 150+ arrested. Most released. No charge sheet filed. |
| Sajid | May 12, 2024 | Gujarat (Mehsana) | Beaten by mob after rumor spread he consumed beef during Ram Navami. | FIR filed against “unknown persons.” No arrests. |
| Farhan & Riyaz | January 8, 2025 | Uttar Pradesh (Bulandshahr) | Brothers lynched near toll plaza after “cow smuggling” suspicion. | Police called it “accidental.” No arrests. Family threatened. |
Sources: National Crime Records Bureau (partial), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Amnesty India, Indian Express, The Wire, Scroll.in, and court records.
The Anatomy of a Lynching
Each lynching follows a chilling script:
- Rumor — Spread via WhatsApp or local sermons.
- Suspicion — Targeted at anyone Muslim, especially if they’re transporting livestock or meat.
- Mob Formation — Often includes local BJP/RSS affiliates, sometimes in saffron scarves.
- Public Spectacle — Victims forced to chant religious slogans. Videos recorded and shared as trophies.
- Police Complicity — Delayed response, FIRs against victims for “cow slaughter,” or “provocation.”
- Judicial Collapse — Acquittals, delays, lost evidence, witnesses turning hostile.
The message is clear: You are guilty until proven innocent — and even then, you’re not safe.
The Political Ecosystem of Impunity
No major political party has consistently condemned these lynchings. The BJP, in power at the Centre and in most lynching hotspots (UP, MP, Haryana, Rajasthan), has repeatedly:
- Refused to acknowledge lynching as a systemic problem.
- Called victims “criminals” or “smugglers.”
- Promoted accused as “heroes” — like the men who killed Pehlu Khan, who were garlanded by BJP MLAs.
- Passed laws criminalizing cow slaughter — turning suspicion into state-sanctioned persecution.
Meanwhile, opposition parties issue statements — then move on. The media? Mostly silent. Prime time debates prefer “national security” over “Muslim safety.”
What Lynching Really Is
Lynching is not “mob violence.” It is state-enabled terrorism.
It is social engineering through fear. It is demographic disciplining. It is the privatization of punishment — outsourced to mobs, blessed by silence.
When a Muslim man is lynched for owning a cow, it’s not about the cow. It’s about marking territory. It’s about telling 200 million Muslims: You don’t belong. You are suspect. Your life is negotiable.
The Cost of Silence
Every time we look away, we become accomplices.
Every time a TV anchor says “both sides,” we normalize murder.
Every time a judge delays a trial, we embolden killers.
Every time a politician says “mistakes happen,” we bury justice.
Pehlu Khan’s grandchildren still ask: “When will the men who killed Dada be punished?”
The answer, seven years later: Never — unless we scream louder.
A Call to Conscience
We need:
- A national anti-lynching law (pending since 2018).
- Fast-track courts for communal violence cases.
- Protection for witnesses and victims’ families.
- Mandatory police reforms — including prosecution of officers who enable mobs.
- Media accountability — stop platforming hate, start humanizing victims.
India cannot shine while its Muslims bleed.
Pehlu Khan was not the first. But let him be the last whose death we ignore.
His blood — and the blood of Rizwan, Tabrez, Junaid, Akbar, Sajid, and countless others — cries out from the ground.
Will we listen?
