‘Jat men beat up’ Imam on bus, Shamli village tense

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Officers of Shahpur police station said protesters also blocked the road and demanded that the accused be arrested. They were pacified over assurance that action will be taken. Police added that they have registered a case into the incident against unknown people.

A native of Shamli, Noor Mohammad is the Imam of a mosque in Muzaffarnagar’s Kamlapur village and also teaches at a local madrasa there. He told The Indian Express that he had boarded the bus from Shamli station Monday afternoon.

“When the bus reached Bajju village (in Shamli), a group of fellow passengers started passing objectionable comments and abusing me. I initially ignored them but spoke up when they didn’t stop. Soon, the group started beating me up,” the cleric said, adding, there were six of them while none of the other passengers intervened.

Mohammad said it was the driver who eventually spoke up and asked the men to stop beating him. After the driver stopped the bus, the men got down issuing threats to him, he said.

Station House Officer, Shahpur police station, Ved Prakash Giri said the Imam has alleged that the accused started abusing him without provocation and beat him up when he objected. The SHO also said that the medical report of the victim did not mention him sustaining any serious injury, adding that the case has been transferred to Babri police station in Shamli under whose jurisdiction the incident took place.

Station Officer, Babri police station, Mohammad Yusuf Khan confirmed that an FIR has been registered against six unidentified people on various charges, including rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.

The SO added that the incident has caused resentment among people here but no untoward incident has occurred since. Heavy police force have been deployed in the area to maintain peace.