When 72-year-old Haji Ashraf Ali Sayyed, a resident of Chalisgaon in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, boarded the Dhule-CSMT Express to visit his daughter in Kalyan on August 28, little did he know that he would end up in the trauma ward at Sion hospital in Mumbai.
The ward is filled with people, including politicians, who have come to visit Haji and enquire about the assault he faced on the train at the hands of a group of young men, all in their 20s, over suspicion of carrying beef.
Lying in the hospital bed in a half-conscious state, Haji says, “I never thought this could happen to me.” The assault has left his right eye a deep red; a dark patch has formed beneath it, and his skin is swollen. He has also complained of pain in his private parts. His body shudders, as if reliving the traumatic event with each passing moment.
“We were told to report to the Thane Civil Hospital, but his eyes were already turning red. What if he had lost his vision?” says his son, Ashpak Sayyed. Haji’s condition was so dire that he was rushed to Sion hospital on August 31.
The incident came to light after a video of the assault went viral. Ashpak says his father had not initially informed the family about the incident. Instead, he learned about it through a friend who showed him the video on WhatsApp. When Ashpak confronted his father, he finally opened up about the incident. Ashpak says Haji has been unable to sleep, feeling “humiliated” and shaken by the ordeal.
Haji is alleged to have been attacked between Kalyan and Thane stations after he reached for his luggage, which contained two plastic jars of buffalo meat, which is not prohibited in Maharashtra.
‘Premeditated attack’
Recounting the incident on behalf of his father, Ashpak says the assailants attacked him the moment he reached for his bag. “They punched him repeatedly in the face, chest, stomach, and private parts, and made threats to kill him, and rape the women in his family,” he says, suggesting that the attack seemed premeditated. He says they also attempted to throw Haji off the moving train and kept kicking him till other passengers intervened and told them to stop.
Ashpak adds that when Haji got down from the train, a few of the assailants started following him. Fearing for his life, he walked to the Thane Government Railway Police (GRP) station. However, instead of taking his complaint seriously, “the police merely asked him to sign a paper and leave”, says Ashpak.
The widespread outrage sparked by the viral video compelled the police to take action, tracing Haji and registering an FIR on August 31 at 4.26 p.m. against five to six unknown assailants.
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The police charged them under bailable sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and did not include charges under Sections 302 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 311 (dealing with robbery).
Three persons, identified as Akash Ahwad, Nilesh Ahire, and Jayesh Mohite, all police aspirants, were then taken into custody late at night on August 31. The accused were presented in the Kalyan court, where they were granted bail on September 1.
That afternoon, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader and MLA Jitendra Awhad stepped in, visiting the Thane GRP station. He demanded to know why sections related to hate crimes and robbery had not been included in the FIR. Awhad criticised the police for their “negligence” and accused them of treating hate crimes in a “casual” manner, and urged them to add the relevant sections to the FIR.
Bail cancelled
On September 2, Senior Police Inspector Archana Dusane, who was overseeing the case, filed an appeal in the Kalyan court to amend the FIR by adding Sections 302 and 311. The court granted the appeal, leading to the cancellation of the bail granted to the three accused. The trio then went into hiding and is currently absconding.
On September 3, the Thane GRP arrested the fourth accused, 19-year-old Suresh Jadhav, a resident of Navi Mumbai and cashier at a hotel, for his alleged role in the assault. According to the Thane GRP, “there is no connection between him and the other accused, whom he met on the train”.
In Suresh’s rented home in Navi Mumbai, his father, Eknath Jadhav, an autorickshaw driver, says he was unaware of the incident and his son’s involvement in it until he saw the viral videos on TV news channels. Eknath told The Hindu that his son claimed he was not at fault and had “merely posted a status update on WhatsApp”.
According to him, Suresh was on his way back from his hometown, Chalisgaon, where he had gone to attend the 13th day ceremonies after the death of a relative.
‘Not communal issue’
Eknath defended his son, saying, “Suresh has never got into fights or caused trouble in the neighbourhood. They are wrongly portraying this as a communal issue; it was simply about Shravan [the holy month in which people prefer to be vegetarians].”
Suresh’s maternal uncle, who wished to remain anonymous, says, “His face is partially visible in the video, so there’s not much we can do about it. We’ll wait to hear our lawyer’s advice on how to proceed with the case.”
Published - September 06, 2024 01:19 am IST
