A day after a young Muslim man succumbed to a mob assault in Jharkhand when he was forced to utter “Jai Shree Ram”, similar incident has come to light from West Bengal. Going by the reports, a 26-year-old Muslim teacher has alleged that he was beaten up and pushed off a moving train by a group of people for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram” on Thursday afternoon while he was travelling from Canning in South 24 Parganas district to Hooghly.
Hafeez Mohammad Sahrukh Haldar said he was travelling to Hooghly from Canning in South 24 Parganas district on train number 34531 that runs till Sealdah railway station in Kolkata. Haldar claimed a group of people were chanting “Jai Shri Ram” in the compartment. “They asked me to chant the same,” he said. “When I refused, they started to beat me, nobody came to my rescue. The incident took place while the train was between Dhakuria and Park Circus stations. They pushed me off the train at Park Circus station. Some locals helped me.”
According to Haldar, the incident took place in train number 34531 (Canning- Sealdah). A railway police official also asserted that he might have been assaulted during the journey.
“He had minor injuries and was taken to Chittaranjan Hospital. Proper treatment was provided to him. It seems that he was assaulted during the journey due to boarding and deboarding issues. There were two to three people who sustained minor injuries. The investigation is on and no one has been arrested,” he added.
Haldar is a resident of Basanti in South 24 Parganas. He has filed the First Information Report (FIR) with Topsia police station.
A case was filed against unknown people at Ballygunge railway station under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code. The police said an investigation has been initiated in the incident.
