Ghaziabad: A 72-year-old man from Bulandshahr, Sufi Abdul Samad, was on June 5 attacked by a group of men, who also allegedly cut his beard with a pair of scissors, in Ghaziabad’s Loni.
Samad was in the NCR city to visit his niece.
On Monday, after over a week had passed, the video of Samad being thrashed reached social media and drew outrage from many users as a case of hate crime on a soft target.
In another video, which was shot later and where Samad is in a different setting, he says he was also called a “Pakistani spy” by the man who asked him to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.
It wasn’t clear where the second video was recorded.
Police said an FIR had been filed on June 7, a thorough investigation was under way and Parvesh Gujjar, one of the men who assaulted Samad, had been arrested.
Loni circle officer Atul Kumar Sonkar said a second attacker had been identified.
However, police pointed out that Samad had not mentioned anything about being labelled a Pakistani spy or being told to say Jai Shri Ram in the complaint based on which the FIR was filed under sections 342(wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
Ghaziabad SP (rural) Iraj Raja told TOI, “The victim after lodging FIR left for Bulandshahr.
In the FIR, he did not mention that he was made to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and ‘Vande Matram’.” The FIR, incidentally, also does not mention Samad’s beard being cut by the attackers.
Asked about it, Raja said, “The video clearly shows the victim’s beard was indeed chopped off.
But the video is inaudible, so we cannot say for sure whether he was made to say that.
In the video doing the rounds, he says he was forced to chant.” Raja said Samad had been called to Ghaziabad.
“We have asked the victim to come here and join the probe.
He is expected here by Tuesday.
Only after his statement will we be in a position to say what exactly happened,” said Raja.
Circle officer Sonkar said, “A couple of days ago, we had arrested Pravesh Gujjar in a different case.
He is the main accused out of four who had assaulted the victim.
We have identified another accused and efforts are on to nab him and others.” The video that shows Samad being attacked is nearly two minutes long.
Samad, who is on a charpoy, is seen being beaten with a stick.
Later, his beard is chopped off.
A resident of Meera Mohalla in Bulandshahr’s Anupshahr, Samad was visiting his niece’s house in Loni’s Shaheed Nagar area.
He was on his way to a mosque in the Behta area when he was offered lift by an auto driver.
Asif, another relative of Samad who lives in the same house in Loni, said, “He returned to the house in a state of shock on June 5 afternoon.
He was shaking and took some time before telling us what happened.
His back bore injury marks and his beard was cut.
He said he was offered a lift by an auto driver around 2.40pm.
The driver asked him, ‘Chacha mia, kahan jayoge?’.
He said there were two more youths in the auto and they took the canal route.
When he objected, they started abusing him.” Asif said Samad was taken to a secluded house in the area where four youths started hitting him with sticks.
He also claimed Samad had told him about the men abusing him communally.
“He told us that a few minutes later, one of them brought a pair of scissors to cut his beard.
Then they forced him to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ and called him a Pakistani spy as they kept on hitting him,” added Asif.
Samad could not be reached for a comment.