Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India. The Indian Constitution’s preamble was amended to state that India is a secular state. In theory, every citizen of India has a right to practice and promote his/her religion peacefully. The keywords being, ‘in theory’. All the recent murders have shown  that we live in an intolerant society. 15-year-old Junaid Khan was a typical teenager who played marbles with his younger brother, loved bikes, Biryani and also playing cricket. He was ambitious by nature and worked towards his dream of becoming a “big imam”. It was this very boy who was stabbed to death by an angry mob, and whose body was thrown out of the train. It was this cold-blooded murder along with many other incidents that was the cause of the “Not in my name” protests. Thousands of people  raged protests across India against this wave of attacks. The movement sparked a social media rage by reaching people who are categorically against the agenda of targeted violence and against pardons to those who indulge in such heinous acts of violence. No matter what our personal beliefs are, nothing justifies this lack of tolerance. We can only progress as a nation when we take a stand against these atrocities.

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