New Delhi: A dispute over playing the Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers turned violent in Ghaziabad after a group of three men entered a house on 10 March and beat the residents. Police have arrested the three accused and a case has been registered for trespassing, and physical assault.
“They hit my daughter with a hammer. She had come to celebrate Holi and look after her father, who is sick,” says Pooja, one of the residents of Nandgram, in one of the videos circulating on social media.
According to the victim’s family, a Muslim family from the neighbourhood objected to the loudspeakers. Soon, the dispute turned into a violent confrontation. The victim family, however, claims they were beaten and threatened for listening to the bhajan.
The incident has sparked outrage on social media, with many demanding strict action from the Yogi Adityanath government and the local authorities.
The family has alleged that three men first attacked Pooja’s husband who had stepped out of the home to drink juice from a local vendor.
“The investigation is ongoing. The whole matter was about playing music on loudspeakers. An FIR has been registered for beating the family and entering the house forcefully. All three accused are in custody, and the investigating officer is probing the incident,” SHO Umesh Kumar of Nandgram Police Station told ThePrint.
While the police say the accused are behind bars, the victims claim they have been released. The family in question is not satisfied with the police and claims they are afraid for their lives should the perpetrators return.
“We are now selling our house because they threatened to kill me. When the police released the accused, they said that they would kill us. Police didn’t provide enough help,” claimed Ritwik, another member of the family who was assaulted, in a clip circulating on social media.
The residents of theNandgramarea said that the trio are repeat offenders and are known to be violent in the past.
“These men beat me up a few months ago, and when I went to the police station, they didn’t do anything,” recalled a neighbour from the same street where the incident took place.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)
How does this help these Muslims when far right activists claim that “Muslims would attack Hindus for celebrating Hindu festivals”.
You are proving their point and I would just nod in silence.