Syed Abubakr, TwoCircles.net
Asad Raza was sipping tea after a long day of stitching clothes when his phone rang. What he heard left him breathless. His younger brother, Firdaus Alam, had been attacked near Flora Chowk in Panipat. He was told that the reason was a dispute over a skull cap. The victim had gone out with his friend Shahnawaz. Hours later, he was declared dead at a hospital.
“It started over the skull cap. It is only about the skull cap. It is a hate crime, and don’t try to cover it up. He was beaten up badly with a stick,” Raza told TwoCircles.net in trembling voice.
Also known as Asjad Babu, Alam was just 24. He came from Kari Virpur village in Bihar’s Kishanganj. He had moved to Panipat two years ago to join Raza, who had been working as a tailor there for nearly a decade. They lived together in a rented room in Vikas Nagar and stitched clothes to support their large family back home.
He had recently married. Just six months into his new life, he was buried in Panipat. His young wife now mourns him from her father’s house.
“He was a simple man. He would do his work and return home. He never fostered enmity with anyone. Still, he was killed,” said Raza said, as he struggled to find words. The pain in his voice did the talking.
The man accused of killing Alam is 30-year-old Narendra, also known as Shishu Lala. He was arrested hours after a case was registered based on Raza’s complaint and has since been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.
Inside the FIR
The FIR No. 0288/2025 was registered at the Industrial Sector 29 police station. It says the incident took place on May 24 at around 8:30 PM. Firdaus Alam and his friend Shahnawaz were walking through a vacant field near Flora Chowk. As they passed Lala’s grocery shop, the latter allegedly grabbed Alam’s skull cap and put it on. He asked for it back. Lala threw it on the road instead.
Alam picked up the cap and asked Lala why he had done that. Lala allegedly went inside his shop, returned with a stick and struck Alam on the head. He began bleeding and collapsed.
Shahnawaz called Raza. The two rushed Alam to a government hospital. He was referred to PGI Khanpur and then to PGI Rohtak. Alam died during treatment.
The FIR was filed under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with the punishment for murder – death or life imprisonment and possibly a fine.
Police Deny Communal Angle
Speaking to The Indian Express, Subhash Khasa, station house officer (SHO) at the Industrial Sector 29 police station, dismissed the hate crime allegation. “The accused just wanted to try on the cap, which he might not even have known was a proper skull cap. When he put it on and asked how he looked, the deceased asked him to return it. After that, a fight broke out,” he said.
But that version has sparked outrage. Many are asking how can a dispute involving a religious symbol not be seen through a communal lens?
Kishanganj MP Mohammad Jawaid called it “state-enabled terror”. He held the BJP-led Haryana government responsible. “The brutal lynching of Asjad Babu from Kochadaman, Kishanganj, in Haryana for the ‘crime’ of wearing a skull cap is not only a hate crime but state-enabled terror. The Haryana government must be held accountable for this targeted killing. We demand swift action against all culprits and Rs 50 lakh compensation to the victim’s family,” he said.
Janata Dal (United) leader Mujahid Alam also condemned the incident. He demanded that the accused be booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He claimed the accused had a pattern of harassing migrant workers from Bihar. He also alleged that the family is being pressured to drop the case.
A Broader Pattern
Alam’s killing is not an isolated incident. Across India, attacks on Muslim men for wearing a skull cap, growing a beard or eating meat have become distressingly frequent. These incidents fracture the country’s social fabric and leave families like Alam’s with grief and silence.
The 24-year-old was buried in Panipat. There was no body to take his body to home in Bihar. “There was nothing to take back to my home in Bihar. If anything can be done, it has to be the delivery of justice,” Raza said.
He said neither he nor Alam knew the accused. “We do not even know many people here. My brother’s only crime was wearing a skull cap,” he reiterated.
Now the family waits for answers as well as justice. Will it come or will this also be buried like so many others?
