In another incident of intolerance and hatred against Hindus, a family of a man who did ghar wapsi from Islam to Hindu Dharma came under arson attack when he and his children were sleeping in their home. Dev Prakash Patel (formerly Mohammad Anwar) and his kids barely escaped with their lives when Islamic extremists locked their home from outside and set it on fire in order to burn them alive.
The incident was reported from Rataso village in Salon block of Rae Bareli district, UP, an area which has been a Nehru-Gandhi stronghold for decades.
Dev, who had done ghar wapsi along with his kids, had a narrow escape from certain death three months after his reversion to Hindu Dharma. As he was sleeping in his house, some of his former co-religionists set it on fire around 2 AM. Along with him, his three children Dev Nath, Devi Dayal & Durga Devi (formerely Rehan, Ali & Khushi) were also entrapped in the fire. He tried to open the door but it was locked from outside by arsonists and it was only thanks to his neighbors who heard his shrieks and rescued them that he came out alive along with his children.
Dev Prakash Patel, resident of Ratosa village of UP’s RaebarDev had reverted to Hindu Dharma sometime after he lost his wife. Being extremely poor, he was somehow raising the three kids on his own, but with lot of difficulty. In his hard times, it was mostly his Hindu friends who helped him and he became enamored of their selfless unconditional help. He decided to return to his ancestral faith or do ghar wapsi so he could be one of them. On 2 September 2020, he went to Gaukarna Ghat where he reverted to Hindu Dharma with all sansakara (rituals) in presence of local Hindus.
This voluntary ghar wapsi by him did not go down well with his previous community and he was repeatedly threatened by Akbar, Imtiyaz and Ali Ahmed among others. These people, who were locally powerful, were holding grudge and barely 3 months after his reversion, acted against him. It was made to look like an accidental fire and the whole family would have been wiped out but for the neighbours who rescued Dev Prakash.
Dev Prakash is neither the first nor last apostate to face the wrath of Islamists. Just few weeks back in Aligarh, another Muslim who did ghar wapsi was threatened on phone for coming back to Hindu Dharma. He was scared to even go back to his home after the threats.
Throughout the world, incidents such as these are quite common when someone leaves or tries to leave Islam. In most Muslim societies, the accepted punishment for apostasy is death. According to Pew research on Muslims of South Asia, a whopping 76% of Islamic extremists want death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith, a number higher than even the Middle East!
This is why, ex-Muslims, whether they become atheists or convert to any other religion, find it extremely difficult to live a normal peaceful life. Those who are lucky to be not killed by Islamic extremists, choose to migrate or live a double life, publicly as Muslim and ex-Muslim in online world.
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