Father gunned down while rescuing son attacked over Muslim identity in Delhi
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Unrestrained communal hatred, which has increasingly come to scar the social landscape of the country, turned with lethal ferocity towards the Muslim community in Delhi’s Nandi Nagri on Tuesday, February 17, as a targeted assault on a teenage boy metastasised into the fatal shooting of his father, thereby adding yet another grim episode to the expanding chronicle of communal attacks being reported across India.
Mohammed Umardeen, 35, was at home, immersed in the quiet domesticity of an evening cup of tea with his wife, his ageing mother and his three daughters, when a frantic call from his 15-year-old son, Tehjeem, ruptured the fragile calm.
The teenager, audibly distressed and struggling to steady his voice, informed his father that he had been encircled by a group of youths and was being beaten mercilessly. According to his mother, the assault was not random but allegedly animated by religious animus, as the boy was identified and targeted for being a Muslim, according to The Siasat Daily report.
Family members stated that the attackers allegedly stopped Tehjeem, invoked his religious identity, and proceeded to thrash him with such brutality that he sustained grievous head injuries. Even as he bled, the teenager managed to telephone his father, imploring him to intervene and naming two of the alleged assailants — identified by the family as Sonu and his brother Sardar.
Umardeen rushed to the location where his son had been attacked, only to find the accused youths retreating into their residence. According to his wife, the confrontation did not subside but instead intensified, as abuses were allegedly hurled from inside the house. What began as a desperate father’s attempt to shield his injured child soon assumed a far darker dimension, as one of the brothers allegedly emerged armed with a firearm.
In the midst of the commotion, and before the situation could be defused, shots were fired. Umardeen was struck and collapsed; the intervention that had been meant to rescue his son culminated instead in his own death. He was hurried to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, yet the journey proved tragically futile, as doctors declared him dead on arrival.
On the following day, simmering anger among residents — including members of the Hindu community — coalesced into a protest at the GTB roundabout, where roads were blocked, and demands were raised for the immediate arrest of the accused. The family initially refused to proceed with the burial, insisting that tangible action precede final rites, thereby transforming private grief into a public indictment of perceived inaction.
Police officials later arrived at the scene and assured the aggrieved family that dedicated teams had been constituted to apprehend the accused brothers, while an investigation was formally initiated. Only after hours of protest and assurances did the family agree to lay Umardeen to rest.