It was the year when cow vigilantes' terror continued.
Apart from Muslims, Dalits and other backward communities also became the target.
There was Una incident which led to the birth of a new movement in Gujarat.
Rohith Vemula was harassed and his death led to a nationwide outrage.
In institutions, students were targeted because of their caste, religion or appearance. Most of these incidents were reported on this website.
Here is a list of the incidents that took place during the course of the year.
*Rohith Vemula's death in Hyderabad Central University was clearly a case of institutional killing. From Hyderabad to Delhi, governments tried harsh to hush it up and save the culprits. READ
*The photograph of cow vigilantes with their feet on a man's head, shocked the world. It was a Muslim cattle transporter who was the victim and was nearly lynched. READ
Campuses remained on the boil through out the year.
*Extremism in the name of cow spread across the country.
From Himachal Pradesh to J-K, Jharkhand to MP, the cow vigilantes acted with impunity.
Minhaj Ansari's death was just one of those incidents but it led to massive demonstrations in Jharkhand. While political parties didn't take stand, local Muslims on their own, took up the fight for justice in this case. READ
*Delta Meghwal, a young Dalit girl, was also killed in suspicious circumstances in an institute in Rajasthan. It was a case similar to Rohith Vemula's harassment. READ
*The photograph of missing student Najeeb's mother seeking justice while being targeted by policemen, marked another low for the State and the law-enforcers. Najeeb is yet to be traced.
*Apart from these incidents, there was widespread violence in Gujarat during the Patel agitation. Also, Jat stir in Haryana and violence in which a train was set afire in Andhra Pradesh, were among the other major events. READ, SEE PICTURES
*The political events and demonetization [which affected nearly a billion Indians] are well-known. The encounter after the suspicious jailbreak in Bhopal was another major incident.
MP government was in no mood to order a probe. There were questions raised on the encounter. The incident got international attention. Also, it was the year when media became the news. Either it was because of channels who decided that they would aid in propaganda and become a tool in the hands of politicians or because of efforts to harass journalists--something that kept happening throughout the year.
Goodbye and Get lost 2016. We can only hope that 2017 would be a better year.
