Tauqeer Ahmed Khan, a 24-year-old Muslim youth alleged that he was beaten by men wearing saffron shawls in the national capital in broad daylight on Thursday.
“I was going to Jasola in an e-rickshaw. As I stepped off it, at around 3 pm, some men came towards me and started beating before I could ask or speak anything,” Khan said to Maktoob.
He has endured multiple visible injuries on his face, neck, back, and legs and his jaw has dismantled due to a severe attack, he said to Maktoob.
“They were constantly attacking my face and head”, he said.
Khan recalled, “As they were beating me, one of them was showing a video on Instagram to the other, to ensure if they were beating a right person.”
“I heard them saying, ‘Dekh le bhai, kahin ghalat bakre ko to nahi kaat rahe’ (Make sure brother, that we are not slaughtering a wrong goat)”, calling me a bakra,” he said.
Khan further said that while the attackers were beating him, no one came to his rescue and saw him being beaten from a distance.
He also said that the assailants left after beating him as he became unconscious. He gathered himself up after some time and went to 3 police stations in the vicinity of the area where the incident took place but all of them refused to take his complaint.
“I went to Sarita Vihar Police first as it was the nearest where I was told that the area where the incident took place doesn’t come in their jurisdiction and a 2-star officer asked me to go to Kalindi Kunj Police station”, said Khan.
When he went to Kalindi Kunj Police Station he was again sent back to the Sarita Vihar Police Station citing the same reason.
“When I again went to Sarita Vihar Police Station, the officer refused to take my complaint saying that he needs proof of the physical assault, I showed him my injuries but he didn’t take it seriously,” he added.
Finally, the victim resorted to go to Shaheen Bagh Police Station which is near his place of residence and they also didn’t register a complaint.
Khan said that he couldn’t record anything said by the police officers at all these police stations because his mobile phone got broken when he was being assaulted by the group.
“While they were beating me, I could hear one of their names, they were calling him Aakash.”
On Thursday night, Khan managed to receive medical treatment with the help of a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation Miles2Smile (M2S).
He was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital located in the Abul Fazl Enclave area where doctors recommended for an x-ray of his jaw and other medical checkups.
As per the person who assisted him to the hospital who asked to keep his identity confidential, “he was severely injured and couldn’t even walk properly when I took him to the hospital.”
“No fracture was found in the reports, but he was in pain. After giving him medicines and treatment for his injuries, doctor sent him back the same night.”
Aasif Mujtaba, founder of M2S informed Maktoob that he was scared and not in the condition to walk on his own when our team took him for medical treatment.”
On Friday, with the help of the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), human rights organisation, Khan gave a written complaint at the Sarita Vihar Police Station.
An FIR in the case is yet to get registered by the police.
Khan told Maktoob that he was in police custody for the entire day on Friday and police started the investigation, however they are yet to reach at the conclusion.
He also said, “I was also taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre by the police for a Medico-legal case (MLC) and police might register the FIR on the basis of the investigation tomorrow, i.e. Saturday.”
As per the lawyer representing APCR, Sarita Vihar Police Station received his complaint but no FIR has been filed yet.
However, the lawyer refused to share a copy of the complaint with Maktoob saying, “we have decided to keep this matter out of media coverage.”
Maktoob tried to contact the SHO of Sarita Vihar Police Station and the Investigating Officer of the case, but didn’t receive any response until this copy was published.
The copy will be updated with their response as soon as Maktoob will get a hold of the police officers.
