(Image source from: Dallas Morning News)

Indian Muslim community members of North Texas on Sunday protested against recent attacks against Muslims and other religious minorities in India.

About 200 people gathered at Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas chanting: "We are Tabrez! Justice for Tabrez!" in reaction to the June 17 fatal beating of Tabrez Ansari, which was captured on a video that has been widely circulated.

A group of men forced the 24-year-old Muslim, who was accused of burglary, to chant praises to Hindu gods before he was killed. He reportedly was beaten for 12 hours before he died at a hospital.

Syed Ali, vice president of the Indian American Council, said members of the Hindu nationalist group Hindutva have lynched dozens of Muslims in the last five years.

"This is a very dangerous trend," he said. "As members of the Indian diaspora who are living in this very prosperous country, we should come together to demand action from Congress."

Hindus account for nearly 80 percent of India’s population while Muslims account for 14 percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Christians and Sikhs each makeup about 2 percent of the population.

                        (Image source from: Asia Society)

Sharib Haroon, a board member of the Dallas-Irving chapter of the Indian American Council, said religious minorities have long faced backlash in India but now government officials are encouraging hate crimes.

“This is not new, but the machinery and the impunity were not there before,” he said.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected a State Department report in June that religious intolerance from Hindu nationalist groups has grown under the right-wing government of India, according to Aljazeera.

The gathering in Dallas was part of across the nation protest that also included Houston, New York City and Chicago. 

                        (Image source from: Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research)

The organizers called for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to raise India to the highest level of concern and use trade as leverage to prevent human rights violations in the country. 

“This is the foundation of our democracy,” said Hadi Jawad, the executive president of the Dallas Peace and Justice Center. “You call, and you say to the member of Congress, to the senator, that you want India to be in the spotlight ... that you demand Indian leaders are held accountable.”

By Sowmya Sangam