On October 13, a 22-year-old man named Ram Gopal Mishra was brutally killed by an Islamist mob in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, sparking widespread outrage and social media debates. Various videos and statements circulated online, presenting conflicting claims about the events that led to his death. Among these, the most viral claim was that Mishra had replaced an existing green flag with a saffron one. However, this narrative, used by so-called intellectuals to justify or downplay the violence, ignored the core facts surrounding the incident.
The Fact: Mishra participated in a religious procession to immerse Maa Durga’s Murti Visarjan. As the procession, accompanied by a DJ playing devotional Bhajans, approached a mosque, it was met with a barrage of stones. Tensions escalated quickly, culminating in the tragic attack on the young man.
The situation in the region of Mehsi remained tense following the killing. Protests erupted on October 14, with demonstrators laying Mishra’s body on the streets as a form of protest, demanding justice. Media reports soon surfaced, quoting Mishra’s grieving family, revealing horrifying details of the brutality inflicted on him.
Tortured before murder
According to a report by Dainik Jagran, members of the Muslim community dragged Mishra into a house where they beat him mercilessly. The beating was so severe that it didn’t stop there – his attackers reportedly pulled out his nails before fatally shooting him. Despite receiving medical attention at the Rajkiya Medical College, Mishra succumbed to his injuries. Departmental sources have since confirmed that the post-mortem report reflects the extreme torture he endured before his death.
Kamal Shankar Chaturvedi, the newly appointed Station House Officer (SHO) of Hardi, confirmed the arrests of 26 individuals involved in the stone-pelting that occurred during the visarjan procession. Among those apprehended were residents of Maharajganj, including Mohammad Avesh, Tajmul, Mohammad Nisar, Dilshad, Rehan, and several others, whose names have been publicly disclosed. All the accused were presented before SDM Akhilesh Kumar Singh and have since been sent to jail.
Administrative negligence
The report further details the horrific sequence of events. Mishra was being savagely beaten inside the house, and by the time people managed to rescue him, he had already been shot. Disturbingly, when pleas were made to the local Tehsildar to assist in transporting him to the hospital, the official reportedly fled the scene. Mishra’s family was left with no choice but to rush him to the hospital on a motorcycle.
On October 14, the family of Ram Gopal Mishra expressed their deep anguish, stating that his tragic death was a direct result of negligence on the part of the police administration.
According to his family members, Ram Gopal was brutally beaten and left in a critical condition following the mob attack. When they sought help from Tehsildar Ravi Kant Dwivedi to transport him to the hospital, the Tehsildar refused to provide his vehicle and fled the scene. Despite the dire situation, the family somehow managed to get Ram Gopal to the hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Reflecting on the incident, the family asserted, “If the Tehsildar had shown sensitivity and quickly transported Ram Gopal to the hospital in his vehicle, perhaps his life could have been saved.”
Only son killed by Islamists
A ground report by Dainik Bhaskar shed more light on Ram Gopal’s background. He was the youngest of three sons of Kailash Chandra Mishra, with both his elder brothers having tragically passed away – one by suicide and the other by drowning. Ram Gopal had only recently married his wife, Roli, in a love marriage in July this year.
Roli Mishra, devastated by the loss of her husband, recounted the heartbreaking sequence of events. She told the media, “There was a bhandara in the village, and we were cooking there. Then he came and said, ‘I am going for the immersion.’ I had hidden the bike key. I was telling him not to go. But he insisted, took the key, and left. At around 5 PM, some people called to inform that he had been shot. We were extremely worried. Then they said the shot was in the leg, and he wouldn’t die. We rushed to the hospital. What we saw there was horrific.”
Describing the brutality inflicted on her husband, Roli added, “My husband was beaten mercilessly. There were knife marks on his throat. All the nails of his feet had been pulled out with pliers. There were bullet marks on his hands and stomach. He was killed like an animal. Now, all I want is justice.”
Ram Gopal’s mother, shattered by grief, struggled to express the depth of her sorrow. Amidst her tears, she said, “They riddled my son’s entire body with holes. They hit him on the nose, on the neck, on the head. They have ruined our entire family.”
Pushpendra Tiwari, a resident of Rehua Mansoor village in the Hardi police station area, echoed the family’s frustrations, holding the authorities responsible for their inaction. “We are protesting to ensure that the culprits receive severe punishment. This was a sensitive area. The police and administration should have been there. This is their failure. If there had been adequate deployment of police officers, this would not have happened. Because Maharajganj is a sensitive area of the district. If the police had been vigilant, none of this would have happened. A Hindu boy has lost his life. We are protesting in opposition to this. We are not causing harm to anyone. We want the accused to be sentenced to death.”
Every house has AK-47
A neighbour, Arvind Kumar, also weighed in on the ongoing protests, explaining how tensions escalated further due to provocative behaviour. “There is a protest here against the murder. Some people came and used offensive language in front of those protesting, inciting them. This led to a confrontation with some individuals. One person got injured. The administration is neither showing any arrests nor indicating any actions taken.”
Arvind Kumar also painted a grim picture of the situation in Maharajganj, where the fatal incident occurred, stating that illegal weapons were rampant in the area. “In Maharajganj, where the incident occurred, every house has illegal weapons. You’ll find AK-47s there. We are not satisfied with the actions of the police administration. The police should go to every house, conduct searches. They will find illegal weapons with everyone. We had seen when the shooting happened there; there wasn’t a single house without weapons. These were such weapons that you cannot even imagine. Such arms are typically with terrorists.”
