The Godhara police today confirmed that the claims where three Muslim youths were allegedly beaten up in Godhara town in Central Gujurat late night on July 1 for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ were completely untrue.
According to a report by Desh Gujurat, the Godhara police recovered CCTV footage in which it was clearly seen that the incident transpired due to a verbal spat between the two groups and it had nothing to do with the chanting of the religious slogan. SP Leena Patel confirmed, ‘We have obtained CCTV footage and have verified that it was seemingly a case of quarrel and the version regarding it being a result of not chanting Jai Shri Ram was wrong.’
According to a complaint lodged with the Godhara A Division police by one Siddiq Abdul Salam, a resident of Mohamadi mohalla in Godhara town, six unknown miscreants assaulted his son Samir (17) and two of his friends, Salman and Sohail for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
In his complaint, Siddiq Abdul, 40-year-old motor mechanic, said that his son along with his two friends went to Baba ni Madhi locality in Godhara town to take a round at around 10 pm last night when the six unknown people sitting on two motorcycles stopped them and asked them to chant Jai Shri Ram. When they refused to do so, they were beaten up, alleged Siddiq.
The assailants fled after they heard shouts of local people who gathered hearing about the incident, claimed Siddiq. HE further added that the place where the incident took place was a Hindu dominated locality, about a km away from where he lived.
However, investigations revealed that Siddiq was lying and police confirmed that the clash had nothing to do with chanting of any religious slogan.
In the footage obtained, it was clearly seen that the two groups were riding bikes close to each other and both parties engaged in a verbal spat which ultimately transformed into a physical altercation. Though investigations were on the police ruled out the religious angle completely.
The trio was admitted to the local civil hospital for treatment.
Recently, several such incidents of fake ‘hate crime’ have been reported where people have been faking this ‘forced to chant Jai Shri Ram’ stories to get noticed.
On July 29, Chandauli Police in Uttar Pradesh had denied allegations that the 17-year-old boy Khalid was beaten up and set on fire for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
On July 23 it was reported, how a youth named Sheikh Aamer in Aurangabad contrived a story that the 4 youths he had an altercation with had forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan and filed his complaint on this basis at the police station to seek to grandstand from members of his community.
However, barely a day after filing a complaint that some persons had forcibly asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the alleged victim Aamer went back on his statement. Aamer conceded that he fabricated the story of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan being enforced upon him to raise his stature among his community members and teach those who dare to challenge people from his community a lesson.