There’s an old saying in journalism about what kinds of stories gain traction in the media: if it bleeds, it leads. Today we ask the question, what happens when it burns? The horrific tragedy of Junaid and Nasser should have been sweeping the nation, but in the week since the incident occurred, the story has died down to a point that an overwhelming majority of people do not know about the occurrence. Human beings are morbid creatures. Before, there were public hangings, with dictators dragged out into the street. Public assassinations. When that became less common, people took to the media. The almost pornographic display of violence in shows like Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead is evidence enough of this idea. That being said, stories like this, stories riddled with such appalling violence, receive a lot of news coverage, often more because of morbid curiosity than sincerity, but it does get covered. The reduced coverage of this points towards deliberate obfuscation, an attempt to move it to the shadows.

To go over the case briefly: Junaid and Nasir were kidnapped, assaulted, murdered and then burnt alive in their car. Nasir and Junaid were attacked by a car colliding with their vehicle, which they were then removed from. This is allegedly the work of “cow vigilantism”, and was done under the suspicion of the victims being cattle smugglers. After being beaten for information about alleged cattle trafficking, they were then taken to Ferozepur-Jhirka police station in Haryana by their assailants, but sources claim that the police officers refused them entry out of fear that they may die in custody. What happened after that was unclear, but Junaid and Nasir’s burnt remains were found in their car on 16th of February. There isn’t concrete confirmation whether or not the victims were already dead when they were put in their car and set alight, or whether they were burnt alive. The person suspected of leading this large group of people who committed this act of inhumanity is Monu Manesar, a self-proclaimed cow vigilante. There are so many things about this case that evoke horror: the negligence on the part of the Nuh police who did not take in the men when they were brought there, severely injured, the fact that the accused has a weapons license despite instances of hate speech and video evidence of him discharging his firearm improperly. The lack of responsibility in border control that allowed two grown men to get kidnapped and taken over the border, the fact that a murder charge wasn’t originally on the books for the convicted, the unforgettable image of Junaid’s 12 year old daughter saying, “They burnt my father alive,” but what sticks with me is the mahapanchayat that took and backed up Monu Manesar.

Anyone who has read about the Holocaust has heard of Sophie Scholl and the infamous Roland Freisler, but few know the name Jakob Schmid. The story is famous: Sophie Gestapo was Jakob Schmid, a janitor at her university. She, along with her brother Hans and another member of the White Rose was then given a ‘trial’ by the infamous leader of the People’s Court, Roland Freisler, who is known to have sentenced 5000 people to death between 1942 and 1945. The verdict of the trial was that 21-year-old revolutionary and reformer, Sophie Scholl would die by hanging.

The point here is that you may not know a Roland Freisler, a person willing to swing the axe, a person willing to carry the burden of taking lives for a cause of hate. A person who will go down in history for the horrors they inflicted. However, it is not only likely but almost certain that you know a Jakob Schmid. Someone entrenched enough in an ideology of hate to look the other way while they send you to die. Someone who is willing to believe in a genocidal ideology as long as it is someone else who gets their hands bloody. Someone who would not inflict the killing blow, but would stand with the killer against anyone seeking justice.

Do not ignore the Jakob Schmids of the world when fighting Roland Freislers.