Bizarre case of man who raped, killed a dog has turned into an excuse for Islamophobia

Violence against animals, in India, has risen quite a bit over the year. Just this past year alone has seen a lot of animal cruelty, whether it was in the form of dragging dogs from a bike, to throwing animals off of a roof, or even burning them alive.

In a shocking and bizarre incident, a 22-year-old man by the name of Aslam Khan was arrested for killing and raping a female dog in Hyderabad.

The police revealed that the dog was murdered and raped afterwards by a person identified as Aslam - a native of Delhi - who was visiting the city.

Md Jahangir, the owner of the deceased dog, sent his sons to check, after he heard his pet making abnormal noises. Jahangir's sons were shocked to discover a man involved in unnatural sex with the dog.

Aslam Khan, the accused, tried to flee from the spot, but was soon caught by locals and handed over to the police. The police booked him under IPC section 429, 374 and section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act.

This news was received by quite a bit of shock, disgust and anger on the social media.

Of course, even the most heinous of crimes have to be unnecessarily politicised. The accused, a Muslim man, somehow turned into a strawman for the Hindu Right to take potshots at Islam.

Unbelievably anti-Muslim comments started doing the rounds pegged on this incident. It seemed many on Twitter just needed an excuse, any excuse, to vent their communal vitriol. 

Weirdly enough, even the Aam Aadmi Party was somehow blamed for this.

Aslam Khan’s crime is no doubt, inhuman and disgusting, but what can one say about rabble-rousers who want to give something like this a religious angle?

Also read - Mass dog culling: Does Kerala want such barbaric politicians as its leaders?