NEW DELHI: A Muslim man was beaten to death for dating a Hindu girl in India, police said on Friday, in the latest mob violence against minorities in the country.

Mohammad Shalik, 20, was set upon by dozens of people from the town where he lived after he was spotted dropping off his girlfriend on his scooter near her home in the Gumla district of eastern Jharkhand state.

The mob tied him to a pole in front of the girl and lashed at him with sticks and belts in an ordeal that lasted for hours late Wednesday. He died of his injuries on Thursday, police said.

“We are trying to find whether the mob was instigated by the (girl’s) family,” Chandan Kumar Jha, Gumla police chief said.

He said three people have been arrested and more were wanted over the killing, which is being treated as religiously motivated.

The young couple had been together for about a year and had faced threats in the past, Jha said.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017