Three Muslim men were injured by a violent mob in Karnataka’s Bagalkote district on Monday after they went to settle the issue of a Muslim student who was harassed outside a private tuition centre in Ilkal for wearing a skull cap.
The police have detained two of the injured men and the attackers on charges of rioting and assault. Reportedly, two FIRs have been filed in the matter.
According to a local Muslim youth Saleem Malik, Rehan who is a student of 9th grade was harassed by his classmates after his tuition classes were over. “He came home complaining that he was harassed and beaten up by his classmates for wearing a skull cap,” Saleem said.
“He said that his teacher objected to him wearing the cap in the class which got his classmates to harass him.”
Three local youth went to take up the matter with the families of the students who harassed Rehan. They were accosted by around 15 men who thrashed them. The visuals making rounds on the internet show one of the injured with blood on his face and body. Students allege they were even threatened by a person named Tangadagi manju, who barged into the hospital when they were being treated, threatening them for complaining about him to Cops. He openly threatens to stab them , if his name crops up in the FIR. pic.twitter.com/3ydlRLa5pr— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) October 12, 2021
Saleem identified the three injured as Sahil, Mohammad and Sameer. They were admitted to the hospital but even there the mob chased them. A man is seen in a video threatening them for making a police complaint. “I will stab you if I am named in the FIR,” he says. A journalist who shared the video on Twitter identified him as Manju Tangadagi.
The police picked up two of the injured and booked them in a counter FIR filed after a complaint by the attackers. Lokesh Bharamappa Jagalasar IPS, Superintendent of Police, was cited by The News Minute saying that there are injuries on the other side as well but assured a fair probe.
The attack comes days after a Muslim youth from Belagavi was brutally murdered by members of the extremist Shri Ram Sena Hindustan over his love affair with a Hindu girl.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
