India: Burqa-clad women harassed and given death threats for purchasing alcohol and defaming Muslims

Screenshots from the viral video

Muslim women in India are facing harassment by their community members for allegedly violating the rituals and customs of Islam or roaming around with their Hindu friends. Several such videos have gone viral in the recent past over the internet in which the Muslim men could be seen wrongly alleging Hindu persons of ‘trapping’ the Muslim women under ‘the Bhagwa Love Trap’. Apart from this, the community seems to monitor the activities of Muslim women in general under the guise of protecting Islam.

In one such recent video that is going viral on the internet today, a Muslim woman in the Muzzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh could be seen being harassed by Muslim community members for purchasing alcohol from a licensed shop. The Muslim members who happened to block the way of the Muslim woman also threatened her for allegedly going against Islam.

“How can you purchase alcohol being a Muslim? Don’t you have some shame? You are defaming the Muslim community. Is this what Islam teaches us? I’ll slit your throat if you are again seen buying alcohol,” the Muslim man could be heard saying. He further indicated that it was common among Hindu women to buy alcohol but that it is not allowed in Islam.

According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened on Sunday, June 11. A Muslim woman was buying some bottles of beer from a licensed shop in the Novelty chowk region of Muzzafarnagar district. One of the Muslim community members kept on following the woman and blocked her way in the Bakra Market area. He also then gathered a crowd to defame the woman publicly.

As the mob gathered, the Muslim man who was following the woman said that the latter was defaming the entire community by violating the laws of Islam for women. He also reiterated his threat saying that he would slit her throat if she is seen again buying alcohol.

Moral policing of Muslim women in the garb of fighting ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’

Recently, OpIndia compiled 42 such incidents from all over India in which Muslim men could be seen following and harassing Muslim women under the guise of ‘protecting’ them from Hindus. In a few cases, Muslim men have also hurled abuses at Muslim women for roaming around with their Hindu friends.

In the given case also, the Muslim man first followed the woman and then threatened her for allegedly violating the rules of Islam. As if following, abusing, and defaming women in public and threatening them in public is moral and permitted in Islam. The viral video was posted by journalist Sachin Gupta and UP Tak media channel.

https://www.opindia.com/2023/06/muzaffarnagar-burqa-woman-harassed-threatened-buying-beer/