A 17-year-old Muslim boy sustained a fracture and two of his fellow Madrasa students were injured after they were allegedly thrashed by a group of men for refusing to chant ‘Jai Mata Ki’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ at a park in Outer Delhi’s Begampur area. The men even broke an arm of 18-year-old Dilkash one of the three assaulted during the incident.
The men who beat up the boys have not been identified, however, a case in the matter has been registered and the police are looking into the matter.
The injured, Dilkash, Ajmal and Naeem, were discharged after treatment.
In his statement to the police, Dilkash “My friends and I had gone to Bans Wala park, some 300 metres from the madrasa, when we were attacked by a group of young men. They spotted us because we were wearing caps and asked us to say Jai Mata Ki.”
The boys claimed that they managed to save themselves and run back to the mosque, where they study in a madrasa. They then informed the police. The police are investigating the case.
The men have been drinking, according to a TOI report, when they saw the three students approach the park during the school break, and asked them to chant the slogan. When they refused, the men roughed them up.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Vikramjit Singh in a press statement said that a case was registered under sections 323 (causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at Begumpur police station. He confirmed that the men complained that they were asked to hail ‘Bharat Mata’ — a slogan that has become the cynosure of controversies after a raging public debate on whether religions other than Hinduism allowed room for chanting it and if it infringes on the right of an Indian reluctant to endorse this form of demonstrative nationalism.
However, a PTI report quoted the police as saying that the victim did not mention any such thing in his statement on the day of the incident and that there were “inconsistencies” in his versions.
