Uttarkhand Muslim man alleges mob assault. (Source: X)
Haridwar: Goods transporter Mohammed Firoz, who once confidently travelled across state lines for work, now lives in constant fear.
“If I can be attacked like this, what else is waiting out there?” he questions.
He was recently discharged from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after he was mercilessly beaten by a mob of around 12 people in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar.
The crime – His name is Mohammed Firoz, a Muslim.
In an interview with BBC News Hindi on February 22, he alleged he was targeted for his religious identity. “It was around 11:30 at night. I had just parked my car and checked if anyone was in the office,” he recounted.
“I came down from the office and saw that right in front of me, two individuals were urinating. I did not say anything, but later, they stopped me. One of them grabbed my collar and asked my name.”
“They asked me, ‘What did you come here for?’ I replied that I came here to load my car, submit some papers and leave now for home.”
“The moment I told them my name is Mohammed Firoz, they began hitting me,” he said.
The two men were later joined by others, with approximately 10-12 people hitting him continuously with sticks, belts and other weapons. “Aisa maara matlab insan jaanwar ko jitna maarta (I was beaten like an animal),” he said, adding, “Kuch log kaala Scorpion mein aaye the. Baar baar kisi Ankur Bhai ka naam le rahein the (Some men came from a black Scorpio, and I kept hearing the name Ankur Bhai),” he said.
“I drive thousands of kilometers, sometimes up to 25,000 kms, just to earn a living and put food on the table. If I can be targeted like this inside my own home, I can’t imagine what would happen to me out there on the road,” Feroz wonders.
Ankur Chouhan, the local hotelier accused by the victim, strongly objected to the allegations. “I have no knowledge about this incident. I am not sure why my name is being dragged through the dirt,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case, and said preliminary investigations suggest there is no religious motive behind the incident.
“These claims are exaggerated. We are verifying every point of investigation, including the medical documents, and installed CCTV cameras to investigate in detail,” an official said.
Locals have staunchly supported the victim and said that a Hindu-Muslim issue like this should never have happened, claiming that the assailants were from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.
While some fear this hate environment might brew communal tensions, with one resident saying, “Now it feels like Hindus are on one side and Muslims on the other.”
This post was last modified on February 25, 2026 8:20 pm