A day after two students hailing from Jammu & Kashmir were allegedly beaten up by a group of people in Haryana's Mahendragarh, Haryana Police on Saturday said three accused have been arrested in connection to the incident. "Total six people are accused in incident of assault on two Kashmiri youth in Mahendergarh out of which three people have been arrested and 3 others identified on the basis on a CCTV footage. Investigation is underway," informed Kamaldeep, Superintendent of Police (Mahendergarh) to news agency ANI. J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed shock at the incident as she sought strong action from the Haryana government on Friday. Shocked & disturbed to hear reports of Kashmiri students being assaulted in Mahendargarh, Haryana. I urge the authorities to investigate & take strict action. @mlkhattar — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 2, 2018 READ | Uproar in Jammu-Kashmir Assembly over attack on students in Haryana, Opposition stages walkout Haryana chief minister ML Khattar assured Mufti in a reply to her tweet that those behind the assault will not go unpunished. @MehboobaMufti ji, Guilty will be punished. Incident had started with a minor collision of motorcycle of the accused. 3 people have already been arrested and senior officer (SP) is on the spot. — Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) February 3, 2018 AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi condemned the attack and blamed the Haryana government for lack of safety to people in the state. "Khattar administration failed in living up to its constitutional responsibility of providing security to people in Haryana. Two Kashmiri students were deliberately targeted after they came out of a mosque. I strongly condemn this," news agency ANI quoted him. "Kashmir is integral part of India and it will always be. What message are we sending? What crime have they done? Who are the vigilantes to target them? Govt is following its ideology instead of providing security to people," he said. The identity of the assaulted students has been established as Aftab Ahmad (23) and Amjad Ali (22), both pursuing MSc (geography) from Central University of Haryana in Mahendragarh district and are reported to be the natives of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. Aftab informed The Indian Express in a telephonic conversation that a group of not less than 10 people started following them soon after they came out of a mosque in Mahendragarh. “They started beating us for no reason. I was lying on the ground and don’t know what happened… the police also reached the spot after the locals called them. They (police) dropped us in the hospital and left,” Aftab said. The police, however, claimed that a verbal duel took place between the complainants and two locals, in the aftermath of a minor accident in which their motorcycles were involved in a minor incident. The locals then called more people who then allegedly beat them up, the police told news agency PTI.
