The victim was abused and assaulted by a woman on the train in West Bengal’s Murshidabad District on allegations that he was making a video of her on his mobile phone
Team Clarion
KOLKATA — Elderly Muslim men are frequently becoming victims of violence in the country. Days after an elderly imam was assaulted on a train heading to Gujarat from Rajasthan, another video has emerged showing an elderly Muslim man being repeatedly thrashed by a woman on a train in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.
The incident happened at Balurghat Express on 5 March. The victim was identified as Mafikul Islam, media reports said.
The viral video shows a bearded man sitting on a window side berth in a crowded train, being slapped on his face repeatedly by a woman. The woman is seen thrashing him and shouting at him as the victim is pleading with her with his hands folded.
The slapping stopped for a while as the woman attended a phone call. But she started thrashing and abusing the elderly man again after disconnecting the call.
The woman accused Mafikul Islam of making a video of her even when the elderly man kept on pleading that he did not even know how to operate a smartphone.
According to the Bengali newspaper Qalam, Islam said the allegation of making a video of the woman is false and fabricated. “The woman snatched my mobile phone and started alleging that I was making a video,” Islam was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
He also said that he does not know how to receive and make calls on screen-touch phones. Yet, he was accused of making a video.
The woman also made derogatory remarks about the beard and religious identity of the victim.
Islam was traveling to work from Dhulian station to Malda, where he sells Ayurvedic medicines.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari supported the assault on the Muslim man while hailing the woman. He also posted the video through his Facebook handle and amplified the allegation of the woman against Islam without any investigation and evidence.
In recent days, this is another incident of an elderly Muslim man being assaulted on a train. Earlier, an imam from Rajasthan’s Gangapur city was brutally assaulted by some men as he was heading to Gujarat’s Ankleshwar to collect donations for his madrasa. He was accused of touching a woman but family members called the allegation false and fabricated.
In September last year, 72-year-old Ashraf Ali Sayyed Hussain, who was travelling from Jalgaon to Kalyan on a train, was assaulted by a group of unruly men, all in their 20s and en route to Mumbai for a police exam. Hussain was accused of possessing “cow meat.”
