On 22 October around 8:00 PM when Maulana Aalamghir was going to teach children on the 16th floor of the Panchsheel Society building in Ghaziabad, a Hindu resident targeted and threatened him with communal behaviour. The culprit now identified as Manoj Kumar stepped in the lift, stared for a while and asked the religious teacher Aalamghir to shout “Jai Shree Ram”. Manoj stopped him midway and took him down to the 1st floor.
“I was on my way to give tuition when a man stopped me in the building lift. He asked if I live here, enquired a lot and then threatened to ‘fix’ me’,” the Arabic-Urdu teacher Maulana Aalamgir told The Observer Post.
“He asked me to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ inside the lift and abruptly stopped the lift on the 1st floor,” he said.
Manoj Kumar, a resident of the Panchsheel society, was drunk and misbehaving. He also involved another Hindu resident of Panchsheel when Aalamghir did not respond to his threat.
“Since when has this Mulla been coming to teach Arabic? Manoj asked the other man” Aalamghir said.
Manoj also forcefully took Aalamghirs’ mobile number and asked him to connect with the guardian of his student. The Maulana silently followed both, gave his number and connected him to a guardian on the 16th floor for confirmation. But he did not bow down before Manoj’s threat to shout “Jai Shree Ram!”
“Mulla Ji, please walk away, fast,” the Hindu friend of Manoj whispered in Aalamghirs’s ears while tracing the possibilities of other mishaps as the goon was trying to connect more people.
CCTV footage of communal hooliganism has also been found in the matter, where Manoj can be spotted with hateful slogans and aggression towards the religious scholar.
A Trauma Hard To Overcome
Aalamghir is a well-respected learned Maulana who hails from Bihar and gives Arabic and Urdu education to young Muslim children. He lives near the Panchasheel Society of Crossing Republic in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
“There are around 400 Muslim families and thousands of Hindu residents in the colony. Terrified after the incident, Aalamghir approached me and we filed a case. Police arrested Manoj from his home”, Aalamghirs’ close relative, Abdussalam told The Observer Post.
“He teaches Al-Quraan and students usually complete it within 2-3 years at maximum. Alamghir also goes to other societies like ‘Mahagoon” and ‘Exotica’ to teach children,” Abdussalam shed light on his profession.
But after the incident, Aalamghir is extremely terrified and feels insecure because he has been targeted for his Muslim appearance and religious teachings which are no crime but a fundamental right.
“I am afraid, I have not gone anywhere till now,” Maulana Aalamghir said.
However, the parents of the students and Abdussalam stood by his side and with them Aalamghir filed a complaint in the police department but he has not overcome the trauma till now.
“Hollow Justifications”
Manoj who mistreated the Mualana works in a factory and currently, police filed a case against him under 126(2), 352, 351 (2) and 351 (3) for disrupting peace and harmony.
Although responding to the situation, the Police arrested Manoj but they put him in a lock-up only. The Police said that Manoj was “drunk” without marking out his communal hate and crime.
While talking to the media, the culprit said that he was only outraged over Aalamghir’s silence, but the CCTV footage does not confirm his statement.