Over 1 Lakh people demanded for his head. 4 years later, Kamlesh Tiwari is dead. Therein lies the message

The gruesome and barbaric killing of former Hindu Mahasabha leader, Kamlesh Tiwari, has shocked the nation. According to a TOI report, the 45-year old was brutally murdered inside his house in the Khurshidbagh area of Naka Hindola of the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. The incident took place when the police constables deployed for his security were not on duty, while another constable was asleep.

Swift action by police authorities has led to the identification of several accused out of which the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested Shammi Pathan, Faizan Pathan and Maulavi Mohsin Sheikh from Surat, who have been found to be the key conspirators of the murder. The three accused have confessed to the killing. Meanwhile, the murderers who carried out the deed, identified as Farid-ud-din Shaikh and Ashfak Shaikh, are still at large. Five others including Maulana Anwarul Haq who called for Tiwari’s head, have been arrested by UP police.

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Kamlesh Tiwari had for long been on the receiving end of unparalleled levels of hate, and a section of society and clerics had also offered a bounty over his head. Kamlesh Tiwari has been in the news after his comments on Prophet Muhammad in 2015, in which he remarked that the prophet was the first homosexual. This was in response to the rant of Samajwadi leader Azam Khan, who had taken a similar jibe at the RSS and its karyakartas.

Kamlesh Tiwari was booked at the time under the National Security Act by the Akhilesh Yadav government, however, his enemies had been calling for his head. Right before the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhoomi verdict, Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered in cold blood for merely exercising his right to free speech and thought. Soon after his murder, pictures of Tiwari went viral on social media, where it was clearly evident that his throat was mercilessly slit to the point that Hindu leader was nearly beheaded before being shot dead.

Kamlesh Tiwari’s comment back in 2015 had irked lakhs of Muslims across the country. So much so, that a protest march was organised by the Muslims of Muzzafarnagar to make their discomfort known to all. The protest march had over one lakh Muslims taking part in it.

“Kamlesh Tiwari has offended Muslims across India and he needs to be punished. We cannot hear any such words against our prophet. The sentiments of Muslims should be respected…”, Haji Ehsaan, a leader of the Ittehad-e-Millat, a Muzzafarnagar based Islamic organization, told TOI. Samajwadi Party leader Javed Ansari went a step further and demanded the death penalty for Kamlesh Tiwari, as though India was some Islamist Arabic nation following Sharia law.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that the Al Hind Brigade, a subsidiary of the ISIS in India has claimed responsibility for the murder on a Telegram channel. A threat to Tiwari’s life was always on the books, yet, his enemies have successfully executed their plan, it would mean that no Indian is immune to the threat of ISIS any longer, and that they can inflict their butchery on just anyone across the country. The very fact that Kamlesh Tiwari was left unguarded by the police personnel on duty, and also that one of the personnel was sleeping while on duty should ring alarm bells among Indians about the immunity which the police and administrations offers against such terror threats to individuals.

The domestic help of Kamlesh Tiwari has now come out with his version about the sequence of events. According to police, and also the domestic help, it seems that Tiwari personally knew the assailants and that they were also offered tea and snacks. The conversation largely revolved around the marriage of a Muslim girl with a Hindu Boy. Tiwari had asked his help to fetch some masala for the guests, and after he returned with it, he saw Tiwari dead in a pool of blood and the two assailants missing. Notably, the help has claimed that the assailants wore saffron clothes.

The message from the murder is clear, and that is, a section of people could not care any less for freedom of speech, or the course of the law. Kamlesh Tiwari had a target on his back ever since he irked the radical section of the Muslim community. A precedent similar to the Charlie Hebdo shooting has been set, and for that India needs to be worried.

As usual, the cheerleaders of ‘free speech’ have thus far maintained an astute silence on the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. Ever ready to outrage if the victim is a non-Hindu, the hypocrisy of this cabal stood exposed once again as they turned a blind eye to the assassination.

The media too largely ignored the killing with many media outlets giving no prime time coverage to the case while others did not shy away from referring to Kamlesh Tiwari as a ‘fringe Hindu leader’ as if his murder is a lesser crime.