GRP personnel were taken by surprise when they caught a 42-year-old man wearing a burqa at Aligarh railway station on Sunday. When interrogated, the assistant engineer said he was scared after recent reports of Muslims being lynched.
Scared Of Mob Lynchings, Muslim Man Dons Burqa, Detained At Aligarh Station
"I had read about Junaid's killing in a train in Ballabhgarh a few days ago. I was scared for my life after the threat," the man said.
According to a report in The Times of India, GRP men noticed his suspicious movements for some time before they detained him. Nazmul Hassan told the GRP men that he had to frequent Delhi to take care of an ailing cousin and had accidentally pushed a man while alighting at the Aligarh railway station last week. The man then insulted him and his religion publicly and threatened that they would not allow him to live in the city.
"I had read about Junaid's killing in a train in Ballabhgarh a few days ago. I was scared for my life after the threat, but couldn't avoid travelling. So I thought of wearing a burqa," Hassan told the cops, the report adds.
Junaid,17, was stabbed to death while his brothers – Hashim and Sakir – were injured by a mob which also allegedly hurled slurs against them on-board the Delhi-Mathura passenger train between Ballabgarh and Mathura stations last month.
Junaid’s incident was followed by a lynching in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district where a mob of more than 100 people attacked a 45-year-old Muslim trader, Alimuddin aka Asgar Ali, on the suspicion of carrying beef in his car.
The incident happened on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the killing of people in the name of “Gau bhakti” and said that it is not acceptable. He was giving his speech at Sabarmati Ashram during the centenary celebrations in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
"Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of," said PM Modi.
The ToI report said though Hassan was released by the police after questioning, his act left senior police officials wondering about the extent of insecurity among minorities.
"When Hassan was handed over to the GRP, he was crying and shaking and kept repeating that he is a simple man who has never done anything wrong," senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey told the newspaper.
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