‘Eid means mourning’: Muslims lynched in India after shock election result

A woman holds a placard and walks to join a protest against a spate of violent attacks across the country targetting the country's Muslim minority, in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, June 28, 2017. Attacks have picked up again after the recent 2024 election [FILE: Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo ]

Aligarh, India — For Zakia Wali, Eid will never be joyous again. Instead, she says, the Muslim festival will serve as a horrific reminder of how her elder brother, Mohammad Fareed, was lynched in the town they have called home since they were born there 30 years ago.

“We were unable to give him a ghusl (full ablution), such was the condition,” recalled Wali, speaking with Al Jazeera from her home in Aligarh. “No one dared to count the injuries. Eid will only mean mourning now.”