A Muslim railway worker from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was assaulted in Uttarakhand’s Srinagar town by three men who forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and tried to cut his beard.
The victim, Rizwan, said the incident happened on August 16 around 4 pm. According to the police complaint, the attackers — identified as Mukesh Bhatt, Manish Bisht and Naveen Bhandari — stopped him, hurled abuses, beat him, and forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai.”
A video of the incident, now viral on social media, shows the three men thrashing Rizwan. One of them can be heard saying, “It’s the rule of Hindus here, say Jai Shri Ram.” Another threatens him with beheading, saying, “Tum halal karke kaat te ho, hum tumhe jhatka karke kaatenge” (You slaughter animals with halal, we will cut you with jhatka). At one point, one of the attackers asks for a blade to cut off Rizwan’s beard.
The video also captures one man accusing Rizwan of being anti-national, saying, “It was 15th August but you Mullahs want to kill us and you can’t even say Bharat Mata ki Jai.”
Throughout the assault, Rizwan pleads for mercy. In the video, he can be heard saying, “What have I done to you? I even said Jai Shri Ram.”
Police have been informed about the incident, and a complaint has been filed.
