Muslim vendor dies after mob beating in India
Father of six succumbed to brutal assault after selling jewellery door to door, as rights groups warn of rising mob violence targeting Muslims
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A 39-year-old Muslim vendor who travelled from village to village selling artificial jewellery died from severe injuries in northern India after being violently assaulted by a group of villagers, the latest incident underscoring growing fears over mob attacks targeting minority communities.
Police identified the victim as Mohd Yusuf, a father of six from Bulandshahr district, who was attacked on Sunday in Bhimpur village while going about his regular sales route.
A video circulated on social media shows Yusuf lying in a hospital bed, his lower body visibly bruised and blue from the beating, hours before he died at Aligarh Medical College on Monday.
Yusuf had left home that morning to sell inexpensive ornaments in nearby villages, a common profession among itinerant vendors from marginalized communities.
According to his wife, Shakeela, who filed the complaint, a group of men confronted him on the outskirts of Bhimpur, abused him, and then beat him so severely that local residents attempted to intervene.
She said he collapsed soon after and had to be rushed to a primary health centre before being transferred to a larger hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police said two men have been arrested, though additional suspects have been identified as investigations continue.
Authorities initially opened a case of attempted homicide, later upgrading it to culpable homicide after Yusuf’s death — a process legal observers say is routine but does little to address the wider pattern of mob violence in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims have been repeatedly targeted in recent years.
The police statement offered no explanation for what it termed a “dispute,” but similar attacks on Muslim vendors across India have increasingly involved allegations of trespassing, neighborhood suspicion, or communal hostility, often amplified by rising anti-Muslim sentiment and unchecked vigilantism.
Yusuf’s death adds to growing concerns among rights organizations that everyday economic activities by Muslims — from street vending to cattle trading — are becoming sites of vulnerability, where minor disagreements can escalate into lethal assaults. His wife and six children are now left without their primary breadwinner.
Investigators say more arrests are expected as multiple teams review witness accounts and digital evidence, including the widely shared video.
But community members and activists argue that accountability in such cases remains rare, and that without systemic change, violence against Muslim workers and travellers will continue to escalate.
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