Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeIndia“Muslim man hit over amulets, no communal angle”- UP cops; Victim's kin...

“Muslim man hit over amulets, no communal angle”- UP cops; Victim’s kin reject claims

The Abdul Samad harassment and abduction story took a new turn on Wednesday after the family denied claims of the victim selling amulets. The Uttar Pradesh police had alleged that the elderly Muslim man sold “tabeez” to the group of miscreants due to which, they hit him, dismissing the reported involvement of a communal angle.  

The latest rejection of the claim by the victim’s family came hours after a local cop in Ghaziabad filed an FIR against the microblogging website Twitter, Congress leaders, journalists and a writer for sharing posts and videos of the Muslim man’s assault. The complaint said the posts allegedly “provoked communal sentiments”.  

The chain of events began on June 5th after an elderly man, Abdul Samad, was abducted and locked up in a room located in a forested area. He was thrashed mercilessly and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram”. The attackers also cut off his beard. The entire ordeal was captured on a video that got viral.  

Though the prime accused, Parvesh Gujjar, was arrested on Sunday, the UP police denied any “communal angle” to the incident with the twist that the Muslim man was assaulted by some men who believed the amulets sold to them “didn’t work”.  

ALSO READ: Cow vigilantes assault Muslim man in UP, police press charges on victim

Cops alleged that the victim knew all the 6 attackers, Muslims and Hindus. 

In relation to the case, Twitter, news portal The Wire, Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Dr Sama Mohammed and Masqoor Usmani, Journalists Rana Ayyub, Mohammed Zubair and writer Saba Naqvi are now facing an FIR lodged against them by the UP police for sharing posts that allegedly have the potential to incite violence. “These people did not verify the truth of the matter and shared it online with a communal angle with an intention to disrupt public peace and create a divide between religious groups,” the complaint read. 

According to the complaint, Twitter has been mentioned as it failed to remove the tweets shared on its platform despite the Ghaziabad Police releasing “clarifications” on Monday over the case.  

Rejecting the claims made by the police was Abdul Samad’s son, Babloo Saifi, who told NDTV, “The police is wrong in saying that my father used to sell ‘tabeez’ (amulets). No one in our family does this business. We are carpenters. The police are not saying the right thing – let them investigate and prove it.” 

While explaining the list of events that unfolded on the day, he added that they had registered a complaint at Loni police station on June 6th. “The men took my father to a deserted place. Then he was beaten up and his beard was cut off. But my father’s life was saved. He was tortured for four hours,” he said.  

In an official video statement released by the Ghaziabad police, an official, Iraj Raja, can be heard making a string of claims, “When we investigated this case, we found that he (Abdul) came on June 5 from Loni border area. From there, Abdul Samad, who makes amulets, went to Hazipur village. He already knew the accused. The men, who were upset with him over the amulets, had called him.” 

While 3 people have been arrested till now in the case, Twitter and 8 others have been charged under IPC sections 153 (provocation for rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), 505 (mischief), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention). 

Reacting to the FIR, Journalist Rana Ayyub tweeted, “I shall wait for the truth to prevail at the earliest.” Writer and journalist Sana Naqvi also shared a tweet noting her response.  

The FIR against Twitter comes as a first after the new rules set by the government came into effect. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stepped up to slam the social media platform in a thread of tweets and said, “What happened in UP was illustrative of Twitter’s arbitrariness in fighting fake news”. 

“While Twitter has been over enthusiastic about its fact checking mechanism, it’s failure to act in multiple cases like UP is perplexing and indicates its inconsistency in fighting misinformation,” he said.  

Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak named Kalloo and Adil as the men who have been arrested. He added that Arif, Mushahid, Polly and Parvesh Gujjar were also a part of the case.  

Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath is gearing up to save its governance in the upcoming assembly elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh.