Hindu man Amlakh Bheel protests against eve-teasing of his daughter, gets beheaded by accused Muslims in Pakistan

Case ID : f1936a7 | Location : Shahdadpur, Sindh, Pakistan | Date of Incident : Mon, 8 May, 2023

Case ID : f1936a7

Shahdadpur, Sindh, Pakistan

8 May, 2023

Hindu man Amlakh Bheel protests against eve-teasing of his daughter, gets beheaded by accused Muslims in Pakistan

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Case Summary

On May 9, 2023, a 50-year-old Hindu man named Amlakh Bheel, belonging to the Bheel tribe was beheaded by a Muslim mob in Shahdadpur of Sindh, Pakistan, for protesting against the eve-teasing of his daughter, Reshma Bheel. The deceased victim’s relatives stated that Amlakh had threatened the Muslim youths with a police complaint against them. He had said that he had connections with Darawar Ittehad, a Hindu rights organisation in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh and Punjab province. Following this, the accused attacked him in the middle of the night an decapitated him. Although the police registered a complaint, no arrests have been made so far as they claimed that Reshma Bheel could not identify the youths.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this present case, the victim was beheaded by a Muslim mob in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where Hindus are regularly targeted for their religious identity. Further, it is also reported that the Hindu victim was a member of a Hindu Rights organization. The victimization of the Hindu woman itself is driven by religious animosity as is seen rampantly in Pakistan. Thereafter, the murder of the Hindu man for opposing the harassment of the Hindu woman stems from the rampant belief in Pakistan that Hindus have secondary rights as opposed to the Muslim majority. There are several cases reported where Hindu women are abducted, raped, and converted to Islam with impunity and Hindu men are beheaded/killed/targeted for their opposition to the harassment of Hindu women. Owing to the inherent animosity towards Hinduism in Muslim-majority Pakistan and the precedent of such cases, this case is being categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.