The Palghar lynchings were a religious hate crime

The argument

Soon after the incident, rumours began to spread on Twitter that the crime was religion-related and the mob was predominantly Muslim. These claims were based on the belief that Bengali could be heard being spoken in the background of videos taken of the incident, as well as claiming the phrase "maar Shoaib maar" ("hit Shoaib hit"), Shoaib being a predominantly Muslim name.

Premises

Counter-arguments

There is no proof whatsoever that the lynching was in any way religiously motivated. That this is the case is an entirely falsified rumour, spread by social media. None of the 101 people arrested in connection with the case are Muslim. The area where the lynching happened is a tribal one, with no Islamic population. What was interpreted in the video as someone saying Shoaib was actually someone saying oye bas (please stop). Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said, "I want to tell those who are trying to spread fire, please don’t to it. It was not a Hindu-Muslim issue. It was caused by some confusion and we are not going to spare any accused irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Nobody should try to give it religious colour”.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The conditional presents a false alternative. Whether the mob was religiously motivated and whether the officers present acted properly are separate questions, so establishing the first would not by itself settle the second. [Rejecting P2] The claim rests on social-media rumour that the record contradicts. None of those arrested in connection with the killings was Muslim, the area is a tribal one with no Muslim population, and the audio read as a name was identified as an ordinary phrase asking the crowd to stop — the state's chief minister publicly asked people not to give the incident a religious colour.