Victim recounts brush with death

Ahmedabad, July 25: Gulam Dastagir, who was stabbed on Saturday evening in the busy Vadigam area of the city, in yet another incident of unprovoked violence, may have met the same fate as Nageshwar Rao if it were not for the stranger who took him to V S Hospital. However, when the stabbing took place no one from among the many onlookers came to his help.

It all started when Dastagir, who was going to see a movie in Vasant cinema at around 5.45 pm, stopped on the road for a glass of water. He was suddenly attacked by an individual and stabbed five times. The stabbing took place near a well-known paan shop amid high traffic, says Dastagir. “The miscreant came in from behind some vegetable vendors, ran towards me and pushed me down,” says Dastagir, who was stabbed on the hand, chest and back. “He stabbed me with a small knife,” says Dastagir.

According to his neighbours, however, Dastagir went to the area out of sheer curiosity to see the destruction wrought in the riots.

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Dastagir, 30, is a resident of Chinaigara ki Pol in Shahpur area and runs a small business of manufacturing zips for readymade garments. “Anti-social elements are behind this,” he says from his bed in V S Hospital.

This is one more instance of unprovoked attacks on innocents, the only difference being that the victim was attacked by a single individual.

Gulam’s five-year old son doesn’t even know what’s happening but tempers are running high in his community. “In retaliation only more innocents will be hit,” says Dastagir, knowing only too well the vicious circle of violence.