Muslim student thrashed on train, branded ‘Bangladeshi’ by Hindutva mob
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Rezaul then approached Sealdah Government Railway Police (GRP) on February 5 and filed a police complaint. (Photo:X)
West Bengal: In yet another instance of rising intolerance towards minorities in India, a 27-year-old Muslim student, Rezaul Islam Mondal, was brutally assaulted and humiliated by an alleged Hindutva extremist group while traveling on a Sealdah-bound train in West Bengal. The attackers, who accused him of being a “Bangladeshi,” pulled his beard, tore off his skull cap, and threatened to throw him off the moving train, The Observer Post reported.
The incident took place near Payradanga station while Rezaul, a final-year M.Tech student at Aliah University and a native of Meshera village in Hooghly district, was returning from the Bishwa Ijtema, a religious gathering held in Bangladesh. He was traveling with four friends on a local train from Gede station to Sealdah when the attack occurred.
Rezaul recounted that the confrontation began when a passenger asked him to remove his trolley bag from the luggage compartment, which he complied with. Soon after, a group of men attempted to force him out of his seat. When he resisted, they surrounded him, hurling communal slurs and aggressively branding him a “Bangladeshi.” One of the attackers, identified as Ajay, taunted him and questioned why he had “left Bangladesh,” falsely alleging that the country had plans to attack India. Despite Rezaul’s repeated explanations that he was an Indian citizen, the mob launched a violent assault on him.
The attack lasted for nearly an hour, during which several men continuously thrashed and kicked him. The assailants ripped off his skull cap, pulled his hair and beard, and shouted communal insults. At one point, some attackers allegedly urged others to throw him off the moving train. When his friend, Sajid Mirza, attempted to record the assault, the perpetrators snatched his phone and threatened to push him off the train if he captured any footage. They accused him of being an “uneducated militant destroying India.”
Following the attack, Rezaul sought medical attention before attempting to file a complaint at Haripal police station. However, officers reportedly refused to accept it. Determined to take legal action, he approached the Sealdah Government Railway Police (GRP) on February 5, where a complaint was finally registered. Authorities filed a case under sections 115(2), 299, 351(2), and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation has been initiated. A police official stated, “We are investigating this incident and will take necessary legal action.”
The assault has sparked widespread condemnation from politicians, activists, and human rights organizations. CPI MP and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya linked the incident to the growing communal polarization fueled by Hindutva politics. He argued that RSS ideology has deeply influenced West Bengal, fostering religious divisions, and emphasized the need for an intense secular movement to counter this trend.
ISF MLA Peerzada Nawsad Siddique strongly condemned the attack, questioning why Rezaul was targeted solely for having a beard and wearing a cap. He criticized the Hindutva-driven BJP government for spreading hatred across the country and accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of being complicit in allowing such attacks while using Muslims as a “captive vote bank.” He further accused a section of the mainstream media of fueling this divisive narrative.
The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and various human rights groups also denounced the assault. APDR General Secretary Ranjit Sur warned that incidents like this are not isolated but part of a broader pattern of political and media-driven communal conflicts.
All Bengal Minority Youth Federation leader Mohammad Kamruzzaman cautioned that unless authorities take firm action, Muslim youth will continue to face such violence on public transport. Journalist and activist Moktar Hossain Mondal expressed concern over the normalization of such attacks, stating that communal narratives have turned violent assaults on minorities into a disturbingly frequent occurrence, even in spaces like trains.