Youths beat 80-year-old Muslim with shovel while forcing him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’
text_fields
An eighty-year-old Muslim farmer in Amarpur Garhi village of Deoband town in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district suffered serious injuries in an unprovoked brutal attack by two young men who forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, and both accused were arrested the same day, according to a report by The Siasat Daily.
The latest incident is one of a series of attacks targeting Muslims by right-wing members, who often demand that the victims chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’; many times, the victims succumb to the brutal beatings.
The incident occurred on May 11 when the victim, identified as Mohammed Israel, was watering his fields and was approached by the two men, Akash and Ahvi, who allegedly asked his name and, upon discovering his religious identity, coerced him into chanting the Hindu slogan, and proceeded to beat him with sticks.
The situation escalated when one of the assailants reportedly struck the elderly farmer with a shovel, causing serious injuries and leaving him profusely bleeding, though nearby villagers responded to his cries and rescued him.
Police said there was no prior personal enmity between the assailants and the victim, and that the violence appeared to have occurred in the heat of the moment, though they proceeded to register a case under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code.
These include 115(2) for voluntarily causing hurt, 352 for intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, 351(1) for criminal intimidation, 196(1) for promoting enmity between different religious groups, and 299 for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.