New Delhi: The assault on a Muslim family by a mob of 30 to 40 people in a Gurugram village on 21 March was wrongly given a communal colour by various sections of the media as the accused were from the Hindu Gujjar community. The victims denied the communal angle to the attack, saying it was more like a “road rage” incident and the villagers have resolved the matter internally.
Villagers said the incident was “like a road rage and can happen anywhere, anytime” and regret that “Go to Pakistan” phrase suddenly became a central issue of the incident for the media.
ThePrint visited Bhupsinghnagar, a colony in Nayagaon, again to speak to the villagers to get to the truth of the story.
What happened?
On the day of Holi, 21 March, members of a Muslim family were assaulted by some youths, who were allegedly inebriated, when they were playing cricket outside their house in Nayagaon. The assault happened after one of the accused was hit by a cricket ball, which was denied by the Muslim family. The family alleged the youths assaulted them and asked them to play cricket inside their house. Later, a mob of 30 to 40 people went to the house of the Muslim family and attacked them. The video of the attack had gone viral, prompting police action.
ThePrint in its earlier report had clearly stated that the incident was not communal.
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‘Media and politicians are giving it a communal colour’
In interviews with the victims, they said there was no casualty and no demand for compensation. “There is no Hindu-Muslim angle here and the timing (Holi) may be just a coincidence. There was no severe casualty other than my business interests. However, I will overcome it too,” said 40-year-old Sajid, who was attacked along with his family.
“It is the media and the politicians who are giving it a communal colour. The ground reality is different,” he added.
The incident shows how dangerous social media can be where people have no means to cross-check information. Any false information can affect public perceptions or shape human emotions.
“The video (of the assault) was shot by our relative Danishta, but it was for the family only. Somehow, this video became viral and things went out of control,” said Sajid’s wife Samina.
“We would have solved it on our own, but once the video went viral, it was projected like a Hindu-Muslim issue by some vested interests,” she added.
Sajid and Samina are now concerned that the video might be used to spread rumours of Muslims being prosecuted and assaulted.
The couple was also worried about how the media pulled out the phrase ‘Go to Pakistan’ in isolation, and clarified that the villagers never threatened to throw them out.
Samina added: “One of the assailants did ask us to go to Pakistan. But this does not mean that this is the wish of the entire village. In our version of the incident, we cited just one boy saying this but during the post-incident cacophony, our voice was not heard.”
She further said she feared that media might also make an issue of a Tricolour, perched on their roof, being blown away in a storm Friday night.
Sajid said very soon they would sit together with other villagers, and send a message of solidarity to the entire nation.
It’s our fault, say Nayagaon residents
Villagers are ashamed of the incident and feel sorry for what happened to the Muslim family.
“This should not have happened. How can anybody barge into other’s house and assault the family? We had tried to resolve this issue. Many Muslim families reside here and this is not right for our village,” said a villager, requesting anonymity, who had apologized to Sajid and his family on behalf of the accused.
An unofficial curfew-like situation now prevails in the village. Police have arrested 14 men in the case so far.
Billaram and Krishna helped resolve the matter
Billaram, a resident of Nayagaon, and his brother-in-law Krishna played a key role in resolving the issue.
Krishna knows some of Sajid’s relatives. Krishna, who originally belongs to Haryana’s Rewari, had become active soon after the incident.
Billaram said, “The village has a tradition to resolve its own issues otherwise resolving them becomes a long ordeal. We always think a thousand times before calling police.”
“Media, politicians and other people with vested interests only add fuel to fire. It is us, the common villagers, who suffer the long term impacts,” he said.
Billaram added it was wrong that “action of some drunkards” was blown out of proportion. “Many of the boys (who had formed the group that day) do not have friendly relations between them. It might have been the case that they had fought among each other. The real culprit is liquor,” he added.
Billaram said police officials also convinced the villagers to accept their mistakes and seek apology from Sajid and his family.
Nayagaon has very low literacy level. Youths in the village want to join the Army, but diminishing chances of army recruitment have taken away that hope from them.
The story is no different in Sajid’s household. He has six children and eldest of them, Sameer, is pursuing his 12th from an Open school. He also has to take care of his father’s shop because of Sajid’s weak health. When the incident happened, Sameer was appearing for his exams. However, due to tensions he had to skip one paper.
The incident also had an adverse impact on Sajid’s already weak financial conditions. His family said, “We may have to leave this place due to financial crisis. We have to pay loan for our house and business is down these days. But this does not mean that we are leaving this place due to Hindu-Muslim angle.”
“On that day, we suffered losses worth half a million rupees. Three bikes were also badly damaged,” said a family member.
A native of Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, Sajid’s search for work had brought him to Delhi. Later on, he shifted to Gurugram as Delhi was too crowded.
Villagers said not everything about the incident has come out in the open. Rumours of financial benefits being offered to the victims and external pressure being exerted on them are flying thick and fast.
‘All for votes’
Samina said after the incident she along with Sajid had gone to Delhi to meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leaders of the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. She, however, said nobody offered any financial support. Villagers also said that political parties lost interest once the possibility of milking the incident for votes was gone.
Samina and Sajid had voted for Kejriwal during the 2015 Assembly elections. In 2014, their choice was Narendra Modi. As far as 2019 Lok Sabha election is concerned, they remain undecided.
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Police deployed in the village are bored
A police picket was arranged in the village after the incident and four policemen have been on-duty here for over three weeks now. There are plastic chairs for them along with a cot to rest. A police van is parked too. Bottles of Pepsi are lying in the corner. Facilities for food and toilet are, however, missing. They are forced to sit under a tree for the entire day and the situation is becoming worse due to the onset of summer.
A policeman said: “People are courteous here and they often offer tea, but we are on duty here and cannot leave the village without official order.”