19-year-old Muslim youth dies after brutal assault by Hindutva mob in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow: A 19-year-old Muslim youth, who was abducted and brutally assaulted by a Hindutva mob, has succumbed to his injuries in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh state.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the victim, identified as Anas alias Ayan, a resident of Bhawanipur village in Sambhal district, died after remaining in the intensive care unit (ICU) for eight days. He was abducted and brutally beaten by a Hindutva group shortly after being released on bail in what his family described as a false case.
The victim’s family said that the incident stemmed from a dispute between children on June 18, following which Anas was arrested. His father, Azimuddin, said that while Anas was returning home after securing bail, their vehicle was intercepted near a shrine in front of the Nanda Factory by a group of armed Hindu men.
He said that the attackers surrounded the vehicle, vandalised it, assaulted its occupants with sticks and forcibly abducted Anas at gunpoint. According to the family, Anas briefly managed to escape and sought refuge in a nearby hotel, but the assailants tracked him down, assaulted him again and forcibly took him away in a vehicle.
Anas’s brother, Faizan, said the attackers, armed with weapons, smashed the vehicle’s windows before dragging Anas out and abducting him.
Azimuddin said the family later found Anas in a critically injured condition and took him to the police station, from where he was shifted to a hospital in Moradabad. Despite undergoing treatment for eight days, he succumbed to his injuries.
“We took Anas to the police station after he was found seriously injured. From there, he was shifted to a hospital in Moradabad for treatment, but his life could not be saved. Now, all we want is justice,” Azimuddin said.
Expressing grief over the killing, Anas’s mother, Farida, demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible.
“My son will never come back, but I want his killers to be punished so severely that no other mother has to endure this pain,” she said, adding that all those involved in her son’s killing should face the strictest legal punishment.
