Satish Bharatiya, TwoCircles.net
Ratlam: A disturbing video showing three young children being assaulted and made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ went viral late Thursday night. The purported video shows a man striking the children, aged 6, 9 and 11, with a slipper, while another individual films the incident. The man in the video can be heard using derogatory language and forcing the children to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as he continues the physical assault for over a minute.
One of the attackers asks the children to take the lighter and he will give him a cigarette. As they are slapped, they utter ‘Allah’ in pain. It further irked the attacker. The person then starts raining fierce slaps on one of the trio. The man then takes out his slipper and begins beating him. The boy perhaps realised his mistake and instead of taking the name of Allah, he starts saying God. Even then, the man keeps beating these teenage boys with slippers. After this, one of the men who assaulted them forced them to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
TwoCircles.net spoke to the families of the children involved in this distressing incident, as well as their close relatives living nearby.
A relative of one of the children, Imran shared his pain. He said when the children were being assaulted, the name of ‘Allah’ naturally came out of their mouths. “It is common in such a situation. Upon hearing this, the assailants realised that the children were Muslim that seemed to intensify the cruelty of the attack,” he said, describing the actions as savage.
Imran further explained that the youngest child, who is an orphan, was taken by the attackers to be thrown into a pond. He believes the children were targeted because of their religion. The video of the assault, which had been recorded about a month ago, was shown to their acquaintances while the assailants were intoxicated. It was then that the family learned about the incident, which led them to file a complaint.
Legal proceedings are underway in the case, and an FIR has been registered Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) against the accused.
In the FIR, the complainant, a 13-year-old, said he had gone for a walk near Amrit Sagar with his two friends. “While we were sitting there, two people came near and asked our name. When we revealed our identities, they began abusing us. They started hitting us with slippers. While beating us, they asked us to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram Ram’. They threatened us if we take the name of Allah, they will cut all of us and throw us in the pond. They forcibly made us raise the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” described the victim.
He said in the FIR if he talked about the incident at home, he would kill him. “After this, they picked up one of our friends and started taking him with him. Then we fled from there to save our lives. We did not tell anyone about the incident out of fear,” he concluded.
So far, one of the two accused has been arrested, while the other remains at large. The police said they are actively searching for the co-accused.
Following the incident, the Muslim community has come together to demand justice for the children. They are also urging for a law to prevent such religiously motivated violence in the future. In addition, the community has stepped in to take responsibility for the children’s education and well-being, given the traumatic nature of the incident.
While we attempted to speak with the police about the progress of the case, a police officer informed us that they were too busy to comment.
The situation was eventually defused after the police assured the crowd that the authorities would take prompt action. ASP Khakha confirmed that the video appeared to have been recorded about a month and a half ago.
“After reviewing the video, we have filed charges against two individuals for assault, verbal abuse, making death threats, and offending religious sentiments. Our cyber team, along with local police, is working to identify and apprehend the culprits,” Khakha has been quoted by media reports as saying.
(Satish Bharatiya is an independent journalist)