3 lynching survivors of Bidar mob critical

HYDERABAD: When four members of the Kubasi family of Barkas, Hyderabad, left for Bidar on Friday to visit a friend, they had no inkling they would run into a lynch mob and return home with the body of a family member. Mohd Azam, a Hyderabad techie, succumbed to injuries while being shifted to a hospital at Aurad. The other three — Salham Eid Al Kubasi, Noor Mohammad and Mohammad Salman — are battling for life at private hospitals in Hyderabad and Bidar.
Azam, a resident of Erragunta in Old City, was buried in Shaheen Nagar under Pahadishareef police station limits on Saturday.

The lynching took place when Salham, 38, who resides in Qatar and is in India on vacation, tried to offer chocolates to school children at Thoul hamlet when they were returning from Bidar. Though the four managed to wriggle out of the sticky situation at Thoul, a video shot by an onlooker was forwarded on WhatsApp to people in the next village – Murki.
The four were ambushed by Murki villagers and soon residents of Thoul, who were giving them a chase, caught up and the crowd of around 2,000 started attacking them.
“My husband lives in Qatar and was unaware of a string of lynchings in India. He went on holiday to Bidar along with my brother and cousins. When he saw some children coming out of school, he offered them chocolates. You know how people who stay abroad are? They like to talk to locals and offer chocolates to kids. On seeing him offer chocolates, the villagers misunderstood his intention and attacked them. He has stitches on his head and fractured hands,” said Zaib Unnissa, Salham’s wife.
“Salham recalled the mob screaming that they planned to kidnap the children in their car,” said a traumatised Zaib, adding that her cousin Noor Mohammad suffered a grievous injury on his head and is paralysed on one side.
Her own brother Salman(22), who was also brought to Hyderabad on Saturday morning along with Salham, and is being treated at Yashoda Hospital at Malakpet, also suffered serious head injuries.
Another cousin, Mohd Rashid, who was visiting them at the hospital, said the family members are unable to come to terms with the incident.
Bidar SP D Devaraju told TOI that police tried to intervene and convince the villagers that the youth were not childlifters, but the mob did not pay heed. With an inspector and police constable also being injured in the melee, cops had to resort to lathi charge to bring the situation under control.
Devaraju said 30 people from the two villages were arrested. A WhatsApp group administrator, Manoj of Murki village, in whose group the video went viral, and the person who shared the video in the group were also arrested.