Banned Youtube clip from Pakistan triggered riots in UP

mangaloretoday.com

Islamabad, September 9, 2013: A gory clip of two youngsters being lynched by a mob in Pakistan in 2010, triggered off riots in Uttar Pradesh.

The clip, showing two brothers being killed in the Pakistani city of Sialkot, was circulated in Muzzafarnagar last week. It was purported to represent the August 27 lynching of two Hindu boys by a Muslim mob in Kawal village, Muzzafarnagar district.

 

The clip that went viral led to rioting on Saturday, leading to the deaths of 28 persons in Muzzafarnagar district.

The clip showed the real-life deaths of two brothers Mughees, 17, and Muneeb, 15. The brothers were mistaken for dacoits in Sialkot city, 128 km north-east of Lahore, on August 15, 2010. Both, however, were captured by the mob and were savagely beaten to death. The mob used stones, bricks, hockey sticks and iron rods. Muneeb was killed within fifteen minutes, Mughees who was beaten for close to an hour, pleaded to be shot dead to end his suffering.

The police watched as silent spectators and even encouraged the mob, investigations later found out. The mob then trussed both bodies upside down from water pipes.

The incident and the graphic video clip shook Pakistan. Local news channel ran the footage and the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the lynching. In 2011, an anti-terrorism court sentenced seven persons to death for the crime. Nine policemen, including the Sialkot police chief were given three-year jail terms. No one had, however, reckoned with the power of this video clip to instigate further violence.