A Muslim ragpicker’s lynching in Karnataka post-Pahalgam raises questions on laxity, delays in investigation: New PUCL, ACPR, AILAJ report calls to enforce Tehseen Poonawalla directive
A new fact-finding report by PUCL, ACPR and AILAJ Karnataka finds crucial lapses in investigation into the mob lynching of Mohd Ashraf. In Dakshin Kannada’s communally volatile atmosphere, the demand for a fair enforcement of the SC’s mob-lynching guidelines becomes crucial.
Published on: 4 July 2025, 02:37 pm
ON APRIL 27, IN KUDUPU VILLAGE on Mangalore’s outskirts, a mob brutally beat to death Mohammed Ashraf, a 39-year-old Muslim ragpicker from Kerala. Eyewitnesses reported that Ashraf was walking near a local cricket ground when he was attacked by a group of young men. A recent fact-finding report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka, alongwith Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Karnataka and All India Lawyers Association for Justice, Karnataka titled Lost Fraternity, describes this. Initial police records showed Ashraf’s body was found at 1:30 PM with multiple injuries, and an Unnatural Death Report (‘UDR’) was filed that day. Only after pressure from activists was an FIR filed late on April 28 (over 24 hours later) under homicide provisions.
According to the report, Ashraf’s murder was borne of communalised tensions. The attack came just days after the Pahalgam terror strike on April 22, in a “hate-filled atmosphere” of anti-Muslim vitriol. Rumours quickly circulated that Ashraf had shouted pro-Pakistan slogans during the match.
Karnataka’s Home Minister G. Parameshwara initially told the press, “I was told that he shouted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’… Few people got together and beat him,”.
This narrative was later discredited. The PUCL report notes that “neither the police nor any media outlet had reported any claims” of such slogans at the scene. The following day, the Home Minister walked back his claim, saying it came only from the accused and lacked any independent verification.
The police investigation has been widely criticised for laxity and delay. The post-mortem on April 28 confirmed Ashraf’s death by blunt-force trauma, yet the family was not informed and saw the report only much later. According to the fact-finding report, “the police failed at every step” of the basic procedure.
Key lapses included registering only a UDR initially (despite obvious injuries) and delaying the murder FIR until late the next day.
Key lapses included registering only a UDR initially (despite obvious injuries) and delaying the murder FIR until late the next day. In court proceedings, judges have noted these investigative gaps: one trial court granted bail to the accused, citing “serious discrepancies” in the police case and the unexplained delay . By June, five of the suspects had obtained bail on such technical grounds.
During this time, no special prosecutor was appointed, the family received no compensation, and even Ashraf’s post-mortem report was delayed, violating the Supreme Court’s Tehseen Poonawalla (2018) mandate on mob lynching cases. In sum, the evidence suggests a collapse of the rule of law: eyewitnesses and CCTV showed a broad-daylight lynching by at least 30 assailants, yet the State’s response was slow and perfunctory.
Media and political complicity
After the attack, many news outlets echoed the unverified claim that Ashraf had shouted slogans against India, framing the killing as a counter-terror reaction. For example, a headline by NDTV reads, “Mob Lynches Man To Death… for ‘Pro Pak’ Slogan”.