Remember how the entire media landscape in India rallied to showcase India as the land of hate crimes against Muslims when Junaid Khan, a youth, was killed in a train travelling to Mathura? The media had started painting the Hindu community as some sort of demons fixated on driving Muslims into a state of fear. Even before legal processes started to take place these media outlets which are known for having a particular agenda passed their judgments in the case. In an act of totally irresponsible journalism without any basic groundwork, a narrative was set whereby not only the perpetrators were held guilty for committing a hate crime but blame was put on the entire community for the crime.
However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stated that the dispute between the victims and the accused can only be attributed to seat sharing and abuses due to caste remarks and nothing more. The court has therefore, by necessary implication, ruled out the angle of communal hatred and allegations of Hindutva extremism in the case.
In fact, Justice A B Chaudhari while passing the order granting bail to the accused Rameshwar Dass, has categorically stated that there is no evidence of any prior planning to commit the crime intentionally or deliberately or to create disharmony. From the contents of the bail order there is great clarity to the effect that the quarrel broke out due to seat sharing and personal abuses. The claim of communal remarks being hurled at the victims is a mere concoction by the Media.
This is not for the first time that the mainstream media powered by support from anti-India agenda driven western media outlets has tried to run a narrative against the Hindus out of isolated incidents. There have been instances where the media tried to manipulate facts and tried to project Hinduism as a terrorist religion without any empirical evidence to that effect. Such claims have more often than not turned out to be shoddy hit-jobs and manipulations. The truth about the Junaid lynching case raises pertinent questions. It also calls for a justification on the part of those who without a second thought blamed the entire Hindu community for the crime.
Media outlets like Firtspost which had without any evidence given a communal colour must answer why they are hell bent on spreading falsehood against the Hindus. The outlet had in one of its stories about Junaid lynching had alleged that “Cow protectors killed Junaid in the train”. It also claimed that the “drunken Gau bhakts” killed a Muslim on the suspicion of carrying beef. However, there is no substance to their bizarre claim and the High Court has rejected such theories on the face of it.
Similarly, BBC had given its verdict even before preliminary investigations were launched into the case and ruled that India is descending into mob rule. Even BBC tried giving the whole incident which was an argument over seat sharing, media’s favourite beef angle. However, the idea that the lynching was related to beef is a figment of imagination aimed at lambasting Hindus for no fault of theirs.
