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News Desk: A Muslim man in Kanpur was beaten up on a public road by a mob belonging to the Bajrang Dal over allegations of forced religious conversion. The mob beat up the man, identified as Aftar Ahmad, and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
This happened even as the police looked on. The mob later handed Aftar to the police but continued assaulting him as the cops were taking him away.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. In it, the Aftar’s little daughter can be seen crying and clinging on to him as the mob assaults him. She repeatedly pleads the mob to spare her father but to no avail.
The incident took place in Varun Vihar area of Kanpur on Wednesday.
According to Aftar’s family members, the Bajrang Dal members barged into their house and accused him of trying to forcibly convert a Hindu woman into Islam.
The mob then took him out on the road, paraded and beat him up.
Woman alleges forceful conversion by Aftar and his family
Meanwhile, a woman in Aftar’s neighbourhood has alleged that he and his family had been pressuring her to convert into Islam. She claimed she even approached the police and registered a complaint but no action was taken.
Following this, she went to the Bajrang Dal and met the outfit’s district organiser Dilip Singh.
“These people have been forcing me to convert into Islam and even induced me by offering Rs 20,000. I filed a police complaint against them but no one took any action. They have been troubling and pressuring me. When the cops didn’t act, I approached the Bajrang Dal” she said.
Dilip Singh confirmed that the Bajrang Dal did take “action” against Aftar.
“Two days ago, we filed a complaint of religious conversion with the police but they did not take any action on it. Since the police did not take any action, today, we took an action” Dilip Singh said.
Aftar’s family has alleged that the Bajrang Dal members have threatened them to leave the locality. They added that Aftar was beaten up even in police presence.
On the allegations levelled by the woman, the family termed them a “lie”.
They said the police investigated her complaint and found her allegations to be baseless. “She is trying to tarnish our image for the sake of property” a family member said.
Police assessing assault video
As the video of Aftar being assaulted in public and in police presence went viral, the Kanpur Police swung into action. Police say they are investing the case and examining footage of the assault.
“We have registered a case based on the man’s complaint against some named and some unidentified people. The matter is being investigated” DCP (South Kanpur) Raveena Tyagai said in a video statement.
