Saharanpur: A 28-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district has alleged that he was beaten up and his right arm chopped off by two men in Haryana’s Panipat after they found that he is a Muslim.
While the incident is being seen as a hate crime in BJP-ruled Haryana, police claimed that the Saharanpur resident, Ikhlaq Salmani, has been booked in a sodomy case that was lodged on 7 September, and that he hurt himself “when he jumped near a railway track”.
Salmani’s family, however, said this is a concocted story, and an attempt to cover up the crime.
A barber by profession, Salmani claimed the incident took place on the intervening night of 23-24 August. He alleged that the assailants chopped off his right arm after they spotted ‘786’ tattooed on it. 786 is a numeric value that denotes Allah.
“Humari galti bas yeh hai ki hum Muslim hain (Our only fault is that we’re Muslims),” said Salmani’s elder brother, Ikhram.
Police lodged a complaint on 10 September, but are yet to make any arrests in the case.
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What happened in Panipat
The FIR, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint, lodged by Salmani’s family at Panipat’s Chandni Bagh police station stated that the incident took place at around 1.30 am when he approached some people for water near a railway line in Kishanpur area.
It was at this time when two men approached Salmani and took him inside one of the houses near the railway line. Salmani said they asked him his name, and also spotted his 786 tattoo, the FIR stated.
“We believe in 786, we believe in our Allah,” he told ThePrint.
The FIR said Salmani was then beaten up mercilessly by the two men, who, the family claimed, belong to the Saini community. It added that the attackers used an “RO machine” to chop off his right arm. Following this, he lost his consciousness, the FIR added.
At about 5 am, he regained consciousness and found himself on the railway track. He then asked a passer-by to help him contact his brother.
“I received a call early morning from a stranger and then a call from sub-inspector Balwan at 7 am, informing me about Ikhlaq’s injury,” Ikhram told ThePrint.
The FIR stated that SI Balwan of the GRP found Salmani at the railway track and rushed him to Panipat Civil Hospital from where he was referred to PGIMS, Rohtak.
The FIR has booked unknown persons under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 36 (by or by omission).
Salmani said he worked with Ikhram at his hair salon in Saharanpur. But they had to shut it down in the wake of the pandemic. He told ThePrint he had gone to Panipat in search of employment in August.
Pointing towards a deep cut and wound on his forehead, Salmani told ThePrint that he was hit by a brick on his head. He alleged that he was beaten everywhere, showing bruises on his back, ankle and feet.
“He has developed a fever too and isn’t in the right state of mind and just keeps uttering anything because of the blow on his head,” Ikhram said.
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‘Police took advantage, calling it accident’
Salmani’s family members alleged that police are trying to turn the case into an accident.
“My brother wasn’t in his senses and police took advantage and kept calling it a case of accident even in the hospital, but I waited to hear about the details from Ikhlaq and visited the area where he was beaten,” Ikhram said.
Showing the medical reports of PGIMS, Rohtak, Ikhram said it was reduced to “an accident case under unknown circumstances”.
He further claimed that Salmani was discharged sooner than expected on 7 September. He then brought him back to their Nanauta village in Saharanpur on 8 September.
The family is now planning to take Salmani to PGIMER, Chandigarh, for better treatment.
Ikhram, meanwhile, said Saharanpur MP Haji Fazlur Rehman, visited their house to enquire about his brother’s health. Local politicians have also met the family. Saharanpur’s prominent Congress leader Imran Masood video-called the family.
A member of the All India Jamat-E-Salmani, Ikhram said he has been sharing the incident with other members of his organisation to seek support and get justice for his brother.
“I have been sending WhatsApp messages and I have no lawyer, but the people of my organisation and all those supporting us will help us get justice,” he said.
But their mother Hamida, 60, appeared helpless. She said all she wanted is her son to get well. “I can’t see him like this,” she said, almost teary-eyed.
‘It’s a cross FIR’
Panipat Police, however, denied that the incident is a hate crime.
DSP, Panipat, Satish Kumar said Salmani’s family booked a cross FIR against a sodomy case lodged against him on 7 September.
“It is a cross FIR as Ikhlaq was first booked in a sodomy case and our initial investigation showed that he was trying to escape after he was found with a child from the same household (of the two men accused of torturing Salmani) in an inappropriate state and this is when he jumped near a railway track (while escaping) and hurt himself.”
In the sodomy case, Salmani has been booked under sections 6 and 18 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He was trying to take a child away with him in Panipat, the FIR said.
The FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint, stated that the child who Ikhlaq had picked up was seven years old.
According to the FIR, when the child’s uncle woke up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, he realised that the child wasn’t around. The family then began looking out for him and then found him in a semi-nude condition with Ikhlaq in the park adjacent to their house near the railway line, the FIR stated.
The family members then started questioning Ikhlaq and even slapped him. Ikhlaq then ran towards the railway line, the FIR stated.
The DSP said a three-member SIT under him has been constituted to look into both the cases.
Asked about the delay in registering the FIR in the torture case, Kumar said, “We lodged an FIR once we received the complaint as the matter was with the GRP police earlier.”
Both the cases are now being investigated, he added.
Salmani’s family, however, said this is a cover-up by the accused and the police.
“This is a concocted story by the two men who beat up my brother as they know that they won’t be spared,” Ikhram claimed.
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The very heading of the this report smacks of taking sides.I have seen the visit to his house by the media team,its Islamophobia and nothing else.Being a Muslim in India has consequences
If he would have been in gulf they would have either killed him or cut off something teaching a lesson for life. In India the case will go on forever in the name of minority issue.