Holding saffron flags and banners, some 7,000 people called for the death penalty for two Muslims accused of beheading Kanhaiyalal Teli.
Thousands of people marched through the Indian city of Udaipur, many holding Hindu saffron flags and banners. murder of a Hindu tailorwith many calling for the death penalty for the two Muslim men accused of killing him.
Police have banned public gatherings in the northwestern state of Rajasthan over fears it could lead to religious violence. But authorities in Udaipur, a city of nearly half a million people in the southern part of the state, decided to let a brief march take place on Thursday.
Rajasthan police senior official, Dinesh MN, told reporters that about 7,000 people took part in the march and the march was peaceful.
There were protests elsewhere in India over Tuesday’s shocking killing, and they also passed without any major incidents.
Federal investigators have questioned the murder suspects, who posted two video clips online, one showing the attackers slashing the tailor around his head and neck as he stooped to retrieve it. measurements in his store.
In the second video, two Muslim men brandish a butcher knife while claiming responsibility for killing the tailor, Kanhaiyalal Teli, saying he had The Prophet Muhammad was offended.
The authenticity of the two videos has yet to be confirmed.
The two men also made threats against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their video and alluded to Nupur Sharma, a former spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who made remarks about the Prophet earlier this month. This has provoked domestic and international outrage.
“It was only because of the case of Nupur Sharma [that] my father was killed. It’s not such a big deal,” the victim’s son, Yash Teli, told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
“Is it reasonable for them to kill my father over this little matter?” he said, calling on the police to hang or kill the two accused.
Rajasthan Minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters in Udaipur that the incident was being investigated as a “terrorism-related incident” rather than a general incident.
Standing outside the victim’s home, Gehlot said police would check the family’s claims that Teli had received threats from a certain group.
“We will make sure that the guilty are punished,” Gehlot said, calling for calm.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the investigation into Teli’s “brutal murder”.
“The involvement of any organization and its international links will be thoroughly investigated,” said Shah.
Late Wednesday, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry denied reports in some Indian media that the suspects were linked to an organization based in Pakistan.
Muslim groups and politicians in India condemned the killing.
“People cannot hold the law in their own hands. That’s a horrible thing to do. It’s inhumane,” Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of parliament, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, India’s federal government has asked social media companies to remove any content that promotes or glorifies murder.
The BJP has urged people to stay calm. Earlier this month, the party suspended Sharma and another official over remarks about the Prophet, although Muslim groups and opposition politicians have called for stronger action.
Modi’s pursuit of a “Hindu First” agenda since coming to power in 2014 has caused community tension in India, a country with a terrible history of Hindu violence- Islamic. Muslims, who make up 14% of the population, say they have been marginalized under Modi.
