Muslim vendors beaten by mob after identity check in India
Videos showing bloodied uncle-nephew garment sellers sparked outrage as Muslims increasingly report religious profiling and vigilante violence
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Two Muslim garment sellers were brutally assaulted by a mob in an Islamophobic attack in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state after local residents stopped them, questioned their identities and attacked them upon discovering they were Muslims.
The victims, identified as Aamir Malik and Javed, are uncle and nephew and work as traveling garment vendors. The two had reportedly gone to a residential colony in Muzaffarnagar district on Sunday evening after allegedly being invited by a resident to sell clothes.
According to the victims and local reports, the situation quickly turned hostile after residents began questioning the pair about their identities. The men were assaulted moments later after revealing they were Muslims.
Videos circulating on social media showed the two men bleeding heavily after the attack, reigniting concerns over growing anti-Muslim vigilantism in parts of India where Muslims increasingly face hostility even during routine economic activities such as street vending, trade and travel.
Police later reached the scene and shifted the injured men for medical treatment.
Raju Kumar Sao, a senior police officer in Muzaffarnagar, said authorities received information that two individuals had been stopped by local residents under “suspicious circumstances.”
Police said preliminary findings showed the two men were garment hawkers with no criminal record.
Authorities are examining videos and witness accounts related to the assault, though no detailed explanation has yet been given as to why the men were targeted.
The attack once again highlighted how Muslim identity itself has increasingly become grounds for suspicion and violence in several parts of India under an atmosphere shaped by aggressive Hindu nationalist rhetoric.
Rights advocates say Muslim hawkers, traders and migrant workers have become particularly vulnerable to mob attacks, with many assaulted after being accused of entering Hindu neighborhoods, conducting business in certain areas or simply revealing Muslim names and identities.
Uttar Pradesh, governed by hardline Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath, has witnessed repeated incidents of anti-Muslim violence, vigilante attacks and religious profiling in recent years.
Muslim groups and civil rights advocates say such incidents are no longer isolated acts of mob aggression but part of a broader climate in which anti-Muslim hostility has become increasingly normalized in public spaces and everyday interactions.
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