The victim, his family and locals claim the attack was religion based, but police deny any communal angle
LUCKNOW — An imam of a local mosque in Lakhanpur village in Aligarh District of Uttar Pradesh, identified as Mustaqim, claimed that he was severely assaulted for refusing to chant the Hindutva slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on Saturday (20 September) after a minor dispute involving children.
Mustaqim’s family also alleged that the attack by a marauding group of about a dozen people was motivated by his religious identity even as the police maintain that there was no religious angle involved in the incident. Several locals also corroborated the family version in claiming that the imam was badly injured in the attack which stemmed from hate. They also claim the group pulled the imam’s beard and forcefully removed his skullcap.
Videos and images circulating online show an injured man being assisted by neighbours and crowds gathering at the scene; several users allege the imam was beaten “mercilessly” and forced to repeat the slogan. These accounts are being widely shared across local networks.
Aligarh city superintendent of police, Mrigank Shekhar Pathak said, “Upon investigation, it was revealed that it is a normal case of simple assault. There is no religious angle to the case nor was anyone forced to chant religious slogans.”
However, the victim has alleged that he was targeted for refusing to chant religious slogans. “For the past few days, some boys had been bothering me,” he said.
“They stopped my bicycle and asked me to say ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ When I refused, they took out sticks and beat me for nearly half an hour to two hours. They wouldn’t let me get up and said, ‘Yahi dafnado’ (Bury him here).”
When asked whether he had previously reported the harassment to the police, he said he decided against it, so that the situation would never escalate.
Local police have maintained that the incident was not a communally motivated hate crime and said investigations are ongoing.
