The leader of a Muslim fishing community in Mahatma Gandhi’s hometown asked an Indian court earlier this month to allow him and 600 of his followers to kill themselves.
The bizarre request from Allarakha Ismailbhai Thimmar, leader of a fishing village in Porbandar, was lodged with the Gujarat High Court. The Gosabara Muslim Fishermen’s Society claims its members have been driven to desperation by the local government’s 2016 decree barring their boats from docking at a local port.
“Thimmar and his community are being denied their rights despite having licenses,” said the group’s lawyer, Dharmesh Gurjar. “They say that they are like dead wood, and without a decent livelihood it’s better to end life en masse. And they asked for mass euthanasia.”
Plight of Muslim Fishermen in Gosabara village in Gujarat: Move High Court Seeking Permission for Mass Euthanasia. Banned from fishing since 2016.
Is this how a weak group of society is treated? Where is @CMOGuj, Gujarat high court? @dgpgujarat?https://t.co/FsgjySKDH4— Zafarul-Islam Khan (@khan_zafarul) May 20, 2022
The order barring the community’s boats from docking at Gosabara port has ravaged the community’s economy, the group claims, alleging that “the government does not provide facilities to people belonging to a particular community.” Unable to go to sea to fish, the men of the society are forced to do odd jobs and fish in an area river and lakes.
Gosabara is the only majority-Muslim village in the area. The village is in the western Indian state of Gujarat, home of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and a stronghold of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Thimmar alleges that authorities are “harassing” his group’s families and that it allows Hindu fishermen to use the port. The petition claims the society is loyal to India and has “given information to security agencies” on criminal activities sponsored by Pakistan.
The group includes 100 families, according to the Times of India. In their petition to the court, they asked that the fishermen who support their families be allowed to use their boats.“Otherwise, Your Lordships may be pleased to pass such other and further appropriate order and direction, directing the concerned authorities for by and large collectively euthanasia for 600 lives of petitioner and his community to end their lives happily and willfully as per their desires,” their petition read.Active euthanasia is illegal in India and also forbidden by Islam. India passed a law in 2018, however, making “passive” euthanasia, where medical intervention is withheld, legal in certain circumstances.
The Gujarat High Court is expected to take up the matter in the first week of June. District magistrate AM Sharma hinted in an interview that a solution will be less drastic than mass suicide.
“There are no major issues for which people should resort to taking their lives and give that kind of representation to the court,” he said. “We will support the people. The fisheries department would address the issue.”
Source: Dailywire
