Yet another fake accusation. Yet another mob attack. Yet another minority community targetted. This pattern is becoming all too common across the country. A highly disturbing video of Sikhs being mercilessly thrashed by a mob in Rajasthan has recently gone viral. One of the victims was an elderly Sikh man and he can be seen groaning in pain at the end of the 51-second video.

3 Sikh Sewadars mercilessly beaten in Rajasthan, villagers labelled them as child kidnapper when they were asking directions (abusive audio) pic.twitter.com/8mDkLfIELy — Irony Of India (@IronyOfIndia_) May 25, 2017

It now turns out that a police constable was present at the scence of the crime. If the victims are to be believed, the constable not only failed to save them, he was actively encouraging the mob to continue thrashing them.

The victims – all of whom were Sewadars (volunteers) from Alwar, had come to Naseerabad village in Ajmer to collect grains for their langar.

"I think the incident took place around April 24, we were going from door-to-door when suddenly a few people first hurled expletives at us. Soon a mob gathered around us, before we could understand what's happening, we were being heckled, kicked and slapped by the mob," Nirmal, one of the victims, told Times of India.

Apparently a police constable was present at the scene and he did nothing to try and save the Sikh men.

"The police constable didn't save us, instead he asked the violent mob to continue attacking us. He asked mob to teach four of us a lesson but warned them not to attack us on heads," Nirmal told the Times of India.

"We begged them to leave us, but nobody paid any heed to our cries. We were being attacked with sticks and shoes, people slapped us for no reason," Kuldeep, another victim, told TOI.

According to some reports the mob attack was sparked by a rumour that the Sikhs molested local women and they were thrashed.

What's more, a complaint was reportedly filed against the victims! Sure enough, it was found that the Sikhs weren't involved in any act of molestation and the attack was entirely unprovoked.

This is similar to the recent incident in Jharkhand in which men falsely accused of being child-traffickers, were lynched to death.

In Rajasthan itself, cattle trader Pehlu Khan was lynched to death by Hindutva vigilantes in Alwar in March this year.

According to Additional Director General of Police (law and order) N Ravindra Kumar Reddy, the incident had occurred “nearly a month-and-a-half ago in Chainpura village falling under Nasirabad Sadar police station of Ajmer district.

He told the media that “three to four sewadars (Sikh members) of a gurdwara from Alwar district had visited the village to collect donations. The local residents had then beaten them up alleging that they molested their women”.

According to PTI, the Rajasthan State Commission for Minorities has sought a factual report from the local police.

It took cognisance of the matter only after the video went viral.

“The matter has come into my notice. The incident location was unidentified. In fact, I got a vehicle number traced and found that the incident happened somewhere in Ajmer....I have asked the Ajmer police administration to check the matter. A factual report has been sought within 10 days,” Chairman, State Minorities Commission, Jasbir Singh told PTI.

This isn't the first time Sikhs are being targetted in Rajasthan. In April, a Sikh student was told to remove his articles of faith, which included the kara (metal bracelet), before appearing for an examination.

A Twitter user @akdwaaz, who writes on human rights and issues related to the Sikh community, listed a number of other incidents in which Sikhs were attacked in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan is notoriously saffronised. Last year an ASI cut a Sikh boy's hair and threw off his turban in Alwar. — NoToSilence (@akdwaaz) May 25, 2017

Guru Granth Sahib was also desecrated in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan last year and its pages were thrown on roads — NoToSilence (@akdwaaz) May 25, 2017