Members of a Muslim family were brutally beaten with heavy sticks and iron rods by a group of 20-25 goons who threatened them for playing cricket on the occasion of Holi, in Gurugram Thursday. “Go to Pakistan and play”, the goons shouted at the family.
The incident took place in Dhamaspur village in Gurugram at the home of Mohammad Sajid, who has been living there for the past three years with his wife and six children.
Sajid’s nephew, in his complaint to police, said the incident took place at around 5 pm, when they were playing cricket with some others in a vacant plot next to the house, according to a report in the Indian Express.
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“Two unknown men came on a bike and said, ‘What are you doing here? Go to Pakistan and play’. They began fighting and when my uncle Sajid intervened, the boy sitting at the back of the bike slapped him and said, ‘You wait, we will show you’,” he alleged in the police complaint, adding that 10 minutes later, they saw six boys on two bikes and several men on foot approaching their home, armed with “bhalas” (spears), “lathis” (sticks) and “talwars” (swords).
“On seeing them, we ran into the house, and they all began demanding that the men come out or they will kill us. When we did not go out, they forced their way into the house and started beating us up,” he alleged.
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The assault was captured on a family member’s phone.
Police said a case has been registered under several sections of the Indian Penal Code including rioting, unlawful assembly, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation.
Six persons have been arrested.
The Congress party has condemned the incident.
According to Sajid’s wife Sameena, she begged the goons to leave the family members, but they paid no heed.
“They broke the windows, our cars and took away valuables, including a pair of gold earrings, a gold chain and Rs 25,000 I had kept in the house,” she said.
