An elderly Muslim man, Haji Zameer Shiekh, was attacked by a group of extremist Hindus in the Akola city of Maharashtra on October 9. Karan Sahu, Sonu Sahu, Raj Yadav, Guju Mechanical and Gunjan Pahelwan allegedly attacked the elderly man for his apparent Muslim Identity. The crowd soon joined in and they publicly ‘beaten and harassed’ Haji.
“I was passing by the way. Some people called me a ‘Dadhi-Topi wala Maulana’ (a bearded Maulana with his religious headdress) and asked others to attack me. They also threatened me for passing by the Harihar Peth area,” Zameer told local media.
“There were 7 to 8 people. They have beaten me brutally and asked me not to go from Harihar Peth Area,” he said.
Surrounded by well-wishers Haji Zameer Umar Sheikh also showed the marks of wounds on his body, deep scars on his arms. Another man behind showed a white kurta that Zameer wore as it was tattered in the assault. The mob also smashed his bike.
Sahu Supporters In Communal Rage
As Haji Zameer identified his attackers, the complaint was soon registered. The cops took him to the police station to attain more details of the case, but the situation became tense and complex in the city after the news came out.
Sahu was detained for a while but soon released on bail.
Haji Sheikh is highly regarded within his community, on the other hand, ‘Sahu’ attackers are ‘considered powerful’ with majoritarian support.
According to a report published by Clarion India, the Sahu supporters amassed and marched towards the police station “to oppose the police action” and save the Sahu leader and extremist attackers who are allegedly linked to the Bharatiya Janta Party.
Religious slurs and slogans like ‘Go to Pakistan or The Qabristan (graveyard)’ were chanted by supporters of Sahu.
“However till now there are no incidents of stone-pelting or any such critical thing,” the police official clarified and requested the citizens to not spread hate and keep calm.
The Pursuit Of ‘Equal Treatment’
Muslim community of the city has accused the police department of ‘unequal treatment’ towards religious minorities. They have also pointed towards an incident that took place a week ago when the police arrested several innocent Muslim citizens in a communal eruption. In response, Muslim women presented a memorandum before Inspector Nitin Lehor and asked him to stop arresting innocent Muslims. Therefore after the deadly attack on Haji Zameer, the Sahu group protested towards Old Akola in response to the Muslim women’s protest.
However, the police arrested 10 members of the Sahu group for attacking Sheikh Zameer but they got bail in no time due to “majoritarian pressures”.
“Some people stopped Sheikh Zameer when he was going somewhere on his bike and attacked him. We are investigating the matter in the police station,” said a police official.
Sahu extremists were arrested under the charges of stirring up violence and organising a procession without prior information or permission from the police department.
