Thursday, March 28, 2024

“Why so barbarous?” asks Muslim man assaulted in viral video from Khargone

Photo: Md Meherban

A recent video from Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, following anti-Muslim violence on Ram Navami, had gone viral where five police personnel can be seen brutally assaulting two Muslim men.

Maktoob contacted one of the survivors, Hafeez Mohammad Sayeed, a scrap businessman and the sole bread earner of his family which includes his mother, wife and four kids. 

“It happened on 12th April. At 2 pm, I barely stepped out of the house to get milk for my youngest son Afwan. The milk seller is just right around the corner. I knew there was a curfew in place but buying milk doesn’t stand anywhere near breaking the curfew,” narrates Sayeed.

“I told them the reason but out of nowhere, they started misbehaving with me. They didn’t listen to me even once and kept calling me Atankwadi (terrorist).”

“They snatched my phone and took it with them.”

Sayeed and other Muslim man were assaulted by police personnel while one among them recorded the incident. The unarmed men can be seen visibly not being any kind of threat to use brute force to detain them.

Over 321 thousand people saw the video posted by Maktoob.

https://twitter.com/MaktoobMedia/status/1514215813112336387?t=oUpTHHOV7gvY5xS5rL3W9g&s=19

Sayeed has been quite disturbed after the incident and wonders why the police had been this cruel. He keeps wondering about his mistake.

“Even if it was a mistake, the police had no right whatsoever to be this barbarous.” 

Sayeed told that on 10th April instead of one rally like every year, the Raghuvanshi Samaj took out two religious rallies which afterwards went awry.

According to him, extremely loud DJs were used and some Hindu men started howling and chanting right in front of the masjid. 

“When the authorities asked them to put a stop to the rally, the people refused. It led to a heated argument between the police and the group. The people who were in the rally ran away towards the roads of Muslim neighbourhoods wherein no one from the neighbourhood said a word to them. Why would we even dare to interfere? We know how brutal the police can be.

It was around 5:15 pm during the time of Asar namaz when as soon as the call to prayer began, the group started pelting stones at the masjid,” says Sayeed.

Sayeed tried to file an FIR, but the police are not listening to his plight. Sayeed doesn’t want to press because police have mostly picked up Muslim men. Till now at least 200 Muslim boys have been arrested.

“The police usually come on a rampage at midnight and is arresting people on the charges of rioting and instigating violence,” he added.

Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi and she studies English literature at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
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