Qatar mall visitors assault Indian man for insulting Islam

By NewsGram Staff Writer

Showing the insensitive side of human beings, a video of an Indian man from Kerala being assaulted by a group of men in Qatar has gone viral on social media channels.

The video shows several men hitting the man, while some others are trying to stop them from doing so.

The incident reportedly happened outside a mall in Doha over some anti-Islamic posts on Facebook. The group accosted the man about anti-Prophet comments on Facebook. Later, other customers also joined the group and started bashing up the man.

According to some reports, the man contested the allegations and said that this was a case of mistaken identity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iec_Zcj-wgg

BBC reported that the Kerala state president of BJP party, V Muraleedharan, citing Qatar authorities, wrote in a Facebook post that the injured man had not committed the crime that he had been accused of. Muraleedharan also said that the man would be released after an investigation into his assault.

The Indian embassy said in an email to the news channel that they have demanded "thorough investigations into an unfortunate incident in which an Indian national was reportedly beaten up by some persons on 8 May 2015."

It was also reported that the embassy is concerned about the well-being of this person and has sought consular access to him.

This shameful incident has been criticized globally by the Indian diasporas. The over-zealous people who perpetrated the attack have been condemned severely for taking the law in their hands.

"It was an unnecessary act. Even if he did say something offensive, there is a legal system in place. I am proud of being from a state where Muslims, Hindus and Christians live in harmony," told Fahd Abubaker to the news channel in Qatar.

This is not the first time that a resident in Qatar had to face consequences of posting something online. In February, a teacher working in an Indian school had to resign after she posted a caricature of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The image had his face over a body of a black and white dog relieving itself.

According to the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report of 2013, insulting certain religions in Qatar is a punishable offence. Even the new cyber crime laws have made it illegal to post or share online content that "undermines" Qatar's "social values" or "general order."