62-Year-Old Muslim Stripped and Thrashed in UP’s Noida

New Delhi, 06 July 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: A 62-year-old Muslim was attacked by three men in Noida bordering Delhi while he was on his way to Aligarh to attend his niece’s wedding.

Kazim Ahmed was mercilessly thrashed by a group of goons in a car and robbed of all his cash in Noida Sector-17. The incident took place on Sunday morning around 8 AM, his nephew Amir Khan Sherwani told Clarion India.

This is the second incident of assault on an elderly Muslim in Delhi NCR in a month. On June 5, 72-year-old Abdul Samad Saifi was brutally thrashed and his beard cut off in Ghaziabad’s Loni. The victim was allegedly abducted from an autorickshaw by the attackers, dragged to a hut, and forced to shout ‘Jai Shri Ram‘ and ‘Vande Mataram’.

Noida and Ghaziabad, both in Uttar Pradesh, are part of Delhi NCR (National Capital Region).

The latest story was first reported by news outlet Maktoob Media which said the assailants targeted Kazim for his identity as a visible Muslim, they also raised anti-Muslim slurs against him, said the report.

“My uncle was waiting for a vehicle by the highway in Sector-37 when a cab stopped, asked him where he was headed to and offered him a ride,” said Sherwani. “There were already four men inside and he grew doubtful and tried to open the door of the cab but they did not let him come down and instead started driving the car.

Sherwani alleged that the men brutally beat Kazim and termed the incident “a case of hate crime”.

“They took out a screw driver and tried to pin it on his nose,” he said. “They opened his pyjama, stripped him naked, pulled his beard and hurled anti-Muslim slurs.”

He was thrown out of the car after delivering him around four kilometers. Kazim feared for his life as they thought the attackers would lynch him and ran away to the nearest police post for safety and also lodge a complaint. But, Sherwani said, there has been no action yet against the culprits. “The police asked him to go home without even completing medico legal formalities,” he said.

“Instead of arresting the attackers, the police asked to take back the complaint saying these are routine incidents,” Sherwani alleged. “They also wanted us to get the tweets by Maktoob on the attack deleted but I retorted and asked them why they have failed to prevent crime in their jurisdiction”.

On Monday, the family took Kazim to hospital for medico legal check up to draft a legal complaint against the attackers. The family is being assisted by United Against Hate, a group of human rights activists working for victims of hate crimes in the country.