On 3rd October, the Gujarati daily ‘Divya Bhaskar’ published a report in its Ahmedabad edition claiming four youths attacked a Muslim man and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As per the report, a Muslim youth from the Madhupura area of Ahmedabad was attacked by four Hindu youths, in which the victim got seriously injured.
Divya Bhaskar stated that 20-year-old Ali Talib Hussain, a native of Uttar Pradesh, lives with his brother Mohammad Sheharoz Talib Hussain in Madhupura, Ahmedabad. Ali filed a complaint with the Police in which he alleged that on the evening of 1st October, he was at home when his brother Sheharoz came and informed him that he had a dispute with some people and 3-4 men had come to attack him. Furthermore, reports suggest that Sheharoz was severely injured in the attack, after which Ali took him to the hospital.
Divya Bhaskar claimed that the Hindu youths forced the Muslim youth to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, which led to a physical confrontation.
OpIndia’s investigation revealed Divya Bhaskar’s version was misleading
OpIndia investigated the matter and found that the version presented by Divya Bhaskar was inaccurate. Speaking to OpIndia Police Inspector N Dharusa, who is investigating the matter, said that the Hindu youths did not force the Muslim youth to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. There was a misunderstanding between the two groups that led to the confrontation. However, there was no religious angle to the matter.
Furthermore, the Police said there was a language gap between Hindu and Muslim youth. Two Hindu youth have a habit of greeting everyone with Jai Shri Ram. The Muslim youth thought they were speaking to him, which led to an altercation. There was a misunderstanding as he only understood Hindi and the Hindu youths were speaking in Gujarati.
As the situation escalated, they got into a physical confrontation, leading to a Muslim youth sustaining injuries in the face. The Police categorically denied any religious angle to the matter and said that the claims of mob lynching were false.
Though the Muslim youth claimed he was beaten up for not chanting Jai Shri Ram in his complaint, the police investigation is still not completed. However, Divya Bhaskar presented as if the version in the complaint was 100 per cent true, which was misleading.
