On a hot July day in 2018, the village of Kolgaon, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, Asmeena found herself engrossed in her household chores. Wearied by the day's labor, she longed to recline on her charpoy when her world was suddenly shattered.
The ring of her phone echoed in her ears, and as she answered, the village head delivered news that would haunt her for years to come. Her husband, Rakbar, had fallen victim to a horrid incident perpetrated by cow vigilantes. He had been brutally killed under the suspicion of transporting cow meat.
A day before this tragic event, Rakbar had ventured to a neighboring village to purchase a cow. Unbeknownst to him, he was spotted by these vigilantes, who, driven by their extremist beliefs, lynched him mercilessly. As Asmeena attempted to reach out to her husband, her desperate calls were met with a cold, unfeeling silence; his phone remained switched off, forever.
In the wake of her husband's untimely demise, Asmeena, now a mother to six daughters, found herself not only grappling with the burden of poverty but also battling severe mental health issues. Her life had become a haunting battleground, a reality shared by countless Muslim women across India who have lost their loved ones to the rising tide of Hindutva extremism.
Cow vigilante violence is a pattern of mob-based collective vigilante violence seen in India perpetuated "by Hindu nationalists against non-Hindus (mostly Muslims) to protect cows, which are considered sacred in Hindu religion. Since the ascent of the Hindutva government in India, cow vigilantes have gained unchecked power and impunity. These self-appointed enforcers take the law into their own hands, killing Muslims indiscriminately on mere suspicion of being in possession of cow meat—a substance deemed sacred by Indian Hindus.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, on occasions, criticized these extremist groups, their heinous assaults persist, casting a dark shadow over the nation. Despite the condemnation from the country's leader, these high-profile attacks continue to terrorize minority communities.
While a lot has been reported on these incidents, not much has come out on the plight of the wives or the families of the men killed. Pulitzer Center grantee Shefali Rafiq presents a photo story on the families of the lynched Muslim men. She documents the aftereffects of these attacks on the families, especially the wives who are left with small children, including their mental health issues as a result of the deadly violence on their husbands.
