Hyderabad: A 24-year-old man suffered serious head injuries after he was allegedly attacked by a group of men on Jalpally Road under Pahadishareef Police Station limits on Wednesday evening, with the victim claiming he was targeted for being Muslim and the police rejecting any communal motive.
The victim, Mohammed Mahboob, said he and his friend Mohammed Khalid were riding home around 4:30 pm when a man identified as Ajay stopped them and objected to Khalid speaking loudly on the phone. In a video statement, Mahboob alleged Ajay used a derogatory term for Muslims, calling them “Turkalu”, before striking him with a helmet. He said Khalid managed to flee, but Ajay and four others then assaulted him, leaving him with injuries to his head, mouth, teeth and eyes and causing him to briefly lose consciousness.
Police, however, have described the incident as a personal dispute. Pahadishareef Station House Officer B. Lakshmi Narayana Reddy said the case arose from an altercation between Mahboob and Ajay, during which Ajay allegedly hit Mahboob with a helmet and three others, including Charan and Lucky Goud, joined in. The officer said there was “no communal angle” to the case, asserting Mahboob was drunk and his allegations were false, and adding that Ajay also suffered a broken nose and is receiving treatment. Mahboob has claimed five assailants were involved; police say four.
A case has been registered under Section 118(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, and the investigation is underway. Mahboob was initially treated at Osmania General Hospital, where he received six stitches, but was later admitted to Recovery Hospital in Mallapur after his condition reportedly worsened.
Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan, who visited Mahboob in hospital, has rejected the police version and alleged that “communal elements” attacked the victim without provocation while he was travelling with Khalid. He said Mahboob, originally from Bhalki in Karnataka and now residing in Wadi-e-Mustafa, Shaheen Nagar, suffered serious injuries to his head, mouth, teeth and eyes.
Khan claimed assaults on Muslim youth had become frequent within the Balapur and Pahadishareef police station limits and criticised what he described as inadequate preventive policing. He demanded the immediate arrest of all those involved and urged Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar to conduct night inspections in sensitive localities, intensify patrolling, identify anti-social elements and ensure strict legal action to safeguard communal harmony.
Appealing to the Telangana government and Hyderabad Police, Khan called for measures to guarantee the safety of all citizens “irrespective of their religion”.