Farkhunda, Lynched for Burning Koran was 'wrongly accused'
Credits: DNA India
NEW DELHI: Women protesters in hundreds thronged to shoulder the coffin of Farkhunda, the Afghan woman, who was stoned to death by mob and later burned at the bank of the Kabul River on Thursday. They demanded justice for the dead woman and protested that she was ‘wrongly accused’ of burning the Koran.
The women, who were revolted by this latest enormity of the fundamentalists, broke a norm hitherto only reserved for men, by carrying the coffin of the victim to the grave.
The protesters decried the police’ complicity in the horrendous act, as they stood there and merely looked on while the theatre of violence unravelled.
Farkhunda was first attacked outside the Shah-du-Shamshaira mosque in Kabul with sticks, and stones until she bled to her death. Then the angry protesters set her body on fire.
Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, has ordered an investigation in the matter.
Meanwhile, according to BBC, an Interior Ministry official has found no evidence yet that the victim had burned the Koran.
“Farkhunda was totally innocent”, Gen. Mohammad Zahir told, according to reports. He said 13 men have been arrested, eight of them police officers.
The rumour, that Farkhunda was mentally ill, too, had been spread by her father, in an attempt to protect the rest of the family from the attackers as reported by Reuters.
The video of the act has also been disseminated widely, and more and more people are lending their voice in solidarity with Afghan women on Twitter and other social media sites.