NEW DELHI: Three former journalists have come together to piece together a collection of heart-wrenching stories of mob lynching in visual form for portraying the lives of families torn apart by the mindless violence.‘Lynch Nation’, the 45-minute documentary by Ashfaque E, Shaheen Ahmed and Furqan Faridi, was entirely crowd-funded.
For those affected by these hate killings, the world has never been the same after the loss of their loved ones. Worse, the families of the lynching victims are caught in protracted legal battles to get justice. “Some non-bailable offences against the accused have been struck off, and, hence, most of the accused are roaming free. The police are working hand-in-hand with the government and are trying to frame us,” Junaid’s father Jalaluddin said, adding that their families were being forced to run about courts since the mob killing of his son.
In June 2017, Junaid was stabbed to death on a train and his brothers were thrashed by co-passengers after a scuffle turned communal when they were returning home. The attackers had accused Junaid and his companions of being anti-national and cow-eaters.In November, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted bail to the main accused in Junaid’s lynching case. Jalaluddin then approached the Supreme Court with a special leave petition after the High Court dismissed his petition seeking a CBI inquiry.
Other than Junaid’s, the families of lynching victims Pehlu Khan and Ummar Khan were also present at the screening of the documentary. Present with them was Saba Dewan from the ‘Not in My Name’ campaign.Furqan Faridi, the documentary’s co-director, said the effort was a collective one. “It would have been difficult but a lot of people - local journalists, grass roots organisations, and activists helped us. A lot of people were willing to help when they knew about our intentions,” he said.
“We wanted the product to be completely independent, and, hence, we did not take any assistance from any organisation,” Ashfaque said, explaining why resources were gathered through this route.“It is time for the Hindus to decide how they want to come out of the fact that they have given the country in the hands of ‘gundas’,” Professor Apporvanand from Delhi University said.Apporvanand added that it was possible for the Dalits to take to the streets and to protest for their rights, but as a Muslim, it was very difficult to do the same.