Bhopal: A 25-year old man who is a bangle seller was brutally beaten by a group of men in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on Sunday. The men had also allegedly taken Rs.10,000 from him .
A police case was registered late at night reportedly after hundreds of people gathered outside the police station demanding action against the accused.
In the video of the incident that has been circulating on social media, the victim, identified as Tasleem, is seen being beaten up by a group of men in a crowded street in Banganga area in Indore. The unidentified men are heard using religious slurs at him as people around him watch.
In the video, a man can be heard saying, “Take whatever you want. He should not be seen in this area anymore.” The man also asks the public to come forward and thrash the victim, who is seen being pulled up by his t-shirt by a man from behind.
Member of Indian National Congress, Imran Pratapgarhi shared the video on Twitter and tagged the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Chouhan, asking when will they investigate the matter.
“The accused first asked my name and started beating me once I revealed it. They also robbed the ₹ 10,000 that I was carrying and vandalised bangles and other material that I had,” the victim said in his complaint to the police.
A case of rioting, assault, robbery, intimidation and trying to disturb communal harmony has been filed against the unidentified men.
Asked about the incident, state home minister Narottam Mishra told media that the victim was using a Hindu name to sell bangles. “It has been found that the victim used to sell bangles using a Hindu name. He had two Aadhaar cards under different names. They have been recovered,” the minister said.
The police has said that investigation is underway and has appealed to the public to not react to social media posts that are communal.
Alishan Jafri, a journalist who documents Anti-Muslim violence in the country shared a video where the victim, Tasleem speaks about what happened. He can be heard saying that the accused kept yelling ‘Yeh Musalmaan Hai’ (He is a Muslim) and began to hit him more.
This is not the first time that a Muslim man was targeted in the country. On Saturday, an Imam from Bapauli village in Haryana was forced to chant ‘Vande Mataram’ by some right-wing extremists, and was allegedly expelled from the place after he refused to be coerced into saying the phrase.
In June this year, an elderly Muslim man was assaulted by at least three men in Ghaziabad, bordering Delhi, on June 5. He was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram’, videos of which went viral. The duo who attacked accused Samad, called him a Pakistani spy and one of the attackers threatened him with a knife that was then used to cut his beard.
Samad claimed the attackers showed him a video of other Muslims being attacked and boasted they had killed Muslims before. A video of Samad recollecting the ordeal was released later. Earlier this month, a journalist in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was forced by a mob to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while reporting during a protest demanding the establishment of a uniform civil code in the country.