Gurugram Muslim family mob attack: Goons assault locals with sticks, swords for 'playing cricket'; FIR filed

A Muslim family was thrashed mercilessly with iron rods, hockey sticks and swords in Gurugram’s Bhondsi area, allegedly by local goons connected with a ‘Hindutva outfit,’ media reports said. The incident is from 21 March, also the day on which Holi was celebrated this year. It was reported on Saturday after a video of the incident went viral on internet. The members of a Muslim family were thrashed with sticks and swords by goons after being threatened not to play cricket on the occasion of Holi in Bhondsi area. A video of the incident, which is now viral on social media, purportedly shows a group of men attacking the family’s male members with sticks, even as women plead for them to stop.

#NewsAlert -- Mob attacked a Muslim family in Gurugram; 6 people have been arrested. | @Nitisha_Kashyap with more details pic.twitter.com/QGIFePOT8B

— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 23, 2019

The clip shows around 10 men attacking the family’s male members with rods and sticks in the verandah of their home while a woman begs them to stop. The men continued beating one man, seen bleeding from his head, till he fell unconscious. Another man was seen lying motionless in the corner, but even that did not stop the mob from raining blows on him. Firstpost could not independently verify the veracity of the video. “A case has been registered at Bhondsi police station stating that when children of a local were playing cricket, a few men came there, threatened them not to play cricket there and attacked them with sticks and swords,” said Shamsher Singh, Superintendent of Police (Crime). Singh also assured that the accused will be identified and arrested soon. The police said that the incident took place around 5 pm when some members of the family were playing cricket on the street outside their homes.  The Indian Express quoted the FIR to identify the victim as Mohammad Sajid, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and has been living in the area for the last three years with his wife Sameena and six children. The goons reportedly also pillaged the house for valuables before leaving; Sameena has reported Rs 25,000 and a pair of gold earrings missing from her home. News18 reported that one of the victims, Shahid, told the police that six to seven drunk men had asked his family members not to play cricket on the street but when they continued to play cricket, the men gathered a mob of over 40 youths who attacked the family with batons, iron rods, hockey sticks, and water pipes. The victims tried to run into their house but some of the attackers managed to barge in and beat them up. The victim family alleged the police took about 40 minutes to come to their rescue, though they kept calling on the help number. By then, the attackers had escaped, they said.

Haryana: #Visuals of security from outside the residence in Gurugram that was vandalised & where the family members were beaten up on March 21. pic.twitter.com/mhC3kczb0G

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2019

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“We were making food for some guests when suddenly they entered our home. They beat me up with sticks when I tried to stop them. I asked them what has happened. But they said ‘aaj in mulloh ko chodna nahi (we will not spare these Muslims today)’. They went upstairs, broke windows and doors and thrashed them brutally,” Sameena told  ANI. Speaking to CNN-News18, one of the victims also appealed to the police to treat the video as evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice. He said that the goons threatened his family to vacate their house in the area and leave, or they would ‘kill them.’ The victim said that he now plans to sell off his belongings and leave because the goons were really ‘powerful’ in the neighbourhood. “There terror was such that even our neighbours refused to give shelter to us. They asked us to leave the locality otherwise they will beat us again and kill us,” the victim told CNN-News18. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav slammed the government for “spreading hatred”.