Two Muslim teenagers were attacked by the same group of Hindutva goons in the Parbhani district of Maharashtra in two different incidents.
On February 11, a 19-year-old second-year polytechnic student at Parbhani’s Shivaji College was taken aback when a group of Hindutva supporters attacked him while he was sitting in Rajagopalachari Garden, chatting with two friends.
According to the victim – Irfan Pathan – a group of 15-20 men ran towards him, taking him by complete surprise and started abusing and attacking him.
Speaking to newslaundry, Irfan narrated the incident. “They first slapped my face, and eventually began punching and kicking me. Then they began forcing me to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” said Irfan.
The assault continued even as a shaken Irfan refused to cave into their demands. Irfan was finally let go when his other friends – Awez and Rohan – and the park’s security intervened.
Irfan immediately left for his village without lodging a police complaint for fear of escalating the matter. Though he doesn’t recognise his attackers, he alleged a neighbour called Aniket had “asked him his whereabouts” when he was heading to the park.
The incident was recorded by one of the attackers. However, the Hindutva supporters did not stop there.
Teenage fruitseller attacked
In another incident, on the same night of February 11, an 18-year-old Muslim fruitseller was attacked on Vasmat Road and his cart was overturned by the same Hindutva men who had earlier assaulted Irfan.
The video shows the teenage fruit seller Sayyad Muddasheer, wearing a skullcap, sitting on his cart when the saffron-clad Hindutva men forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
“I was selling sapota when they passed by me on motorcycles and hurled religious slurs at me. They came towards my cart and told me to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. When I refused, they overturned my cart,” Muddasheer said, adding he suffered a loss of Rs 23,000.
Muddasheer alleged that one of his attackers threatened to stab him if he tried to sell fruits on Vasmat Road again.
Dancing in front of dargah
After assaulting Irfan and Muddasheer, the Hindutva supporters were seen dancing in front of a Sufi shrine called Hazrat Turabul Haq Shrine. The video shows them dancing with high energy with a piece of background music that had words – Woh Hindu hi kya jo apna dharm na pehchane, yeh hai bhagwadhari Shri Ram ke deewane (What kind of Hindu will not recognise their religion, these are saffron-clad followers of Shri Ram).
Siasat.com tried to reach the Nava Mondha police station to confirm the attacks on the Muslim teenagers but received no response.
