Noida: A driver, resident of Trilokpuri, Noida, who had gone to drop one of his old clients at Bulandshahr, was allegedly killed on Sunday midnight in Noida for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Aftab Alam’s son 20-year-old Mohammad Sabir says he received an unusual call from his father – who didn’t utter a word after he picked up the phone. On the other end of the phone he heard men asking his father to utter ‘jai Shri Ram’. They seemed to be drunk.
Later police called him to inform that they had found the lifeless body of his father tied to the side of his own car.
According to The Wire, in the audio file of the call available with it, at 8:39 minutes, one of the men can be heard saying, “Jai Shri Ram bol, bol Jai Shri Ram”.
Similar incidents have occurred in the past when Muslims were forced to chant the phrase which has become rallying cry of violent Hindutva action and were lynched when they refused to.
Sabir recorded the call for 40 minutes. At the 19:41 minute mark, one of the men can be heard saying, “Saans ruk gayi.”
Police found Aftab Alam’s bruised, lifeless body near Badalpur police station. According to Sabir, Aftab’s tongue area was badly bruised, ears were bleeding, and there was a big cut on his face. Claiming that it was clearly a case of mob lynching Sabir said the police have only registered a robbery case.
Ruling out any possibility of “mob lynching” or “hate crime”, the Badalpur police registered an FIR charging the anonymous assaulters under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender).
Aftab Alam is survived by a wife, three sons, ailing parents and two siblings. Alam’s second son Shahid is preparing for his NEET exams. His last rites were performed on Monday.