A madrasa teacher in Kolkata has alleged that he was thrown off a moving train at Park Circus station after he refused to chant Jai Shri Ram. According to media reports, 26-year-old Hafeez Mohammad Sahrukh Haldar was travelling in a Canning-Sealdah local train when a group of Hindutva hooligans allegedly asked him to chant Jai Shri Ram. After he refused, he was thrown off the train at Park Circus station.
“I was travelling to Hooghly when a group of people were chanting Jai Shri Ram inside the compartment.They asked me to chant the same. When I refused, they started to beat me, nobody came to my rescue. The incident took place while the train was between Dhakuria and Park Circus stations. They pushed me off the train at Park Circus station. Some locals helped me,” Indian Express quoted Haldar as saying.
A railway police official said that Haldar had sustained ‘minor injuries’ and was taken to the nearby government-run Chittaranjan Hospital. One person has been arrested in connection with the violence.
A case was filed against unknown people at Ballygunge railway station under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code. Unidentified police officials in Kolkata said they were verifying Haldar’s claims.
The development took place just days after a mob killed 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari with the video of the Muslim man being forced to chant Jai Shri Ram going viral. On Wednesday, netizens took it upon themselves to trend hashtag #NoToJaiShriRam on Twitter.
