Thane: One person was arrested on Friday for allegedly assaulting an auto-rickshaw driver in Mumbra in Thane district and forcing him to shout ‘Jai Shri Ram’, while four others are on the run, a police official said.
The incident took place late last night, Shil Daighar police station senior inspector Sandeepan Shinde said.
“As per the complaint of driver Mohammad Sajid Mohammad Yasin Khan, the five assaulted him and forced him to shout Jai Shri Ram. They also took away Rs 2,000,” he said.
Efforts were on to nab the remaining four accused, Shinde added.
In other recent incidents of Hindutva goons harrasing Muslims in Maharashtra, two Muslim teenagers were attacked in the Parbhani district in two different incidents on the same day.
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.
