Vicious Assault On Muslim Student In Delhi Caught On Camera; Sparks Outrage

A horrific incident of Islamophobic hate crime was reported from Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar on October 2, Wednesday, where a group of Malayali Muslim youngsters were allegedly attacked and are compelled to leave their rented space since their neighbours, purportedly, won’t appreciate Muslim tenants. The area comes under Shakarpur Police Station in Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar.

Six Muslim students from Zakir Husain College under the Delhi University rented an apartment one and a half months ago. They signed the agreement for six-month period. In the four-storey building, they stayed on the third floor, and residents occupied the other three spaces. When they rented the apartment, Rittik the landlord, and Rajesh, who handled the affairs and an alumnus of Zakir Husain, did not ascribe any restrictions regarding their stay, and no specific restrictions were mentioned in the agreement either.

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The spark of the incident stemmed a few days before when the residing students brought their college mates to their room. Not receiving well, the neighbours reported they were creating disturbance and restricted their entry and exit to the building till 5 AM – 11 PM.

Then, on another day, all of a sudden, these four students were ousted from the building at midnight by the neighbours and were asked to leave the premises. The students allege that a lady tenant on the first floor and an individual whom she describes as her cousin or business partner threatened them as well. Since the other building residents alone have access to the gate’s lock, the students had to leave the place around midnight and stay at a friend’s place instead.

They started searching houses from the next day onwards. Getting houses in Delhi is difficult for Muslims, they state. On October 2, one of the students who returned to the apartment after his part-time work got attacked and yelled at by the neighbours for not leaving the space.

When two of their friends, Sahal Ameen and Safwan Kudukkan, residing nearby, went to the lady’s house to enquire about the alleged attack, along with the lady, three guys, including the business partner, came outside, and they had an exchange of words.

Arguments escalated, and Ameen said that they started assaulting them. As per a video available, one individual was seen trying to strangulate a student. During their arguments, the business partner told the students that, as per the building’s registry, Muslims are not allowed to buy or even rent the room. Their owners are unaware about it.

Talking to Timeline, Sahal Ameen, an activist, said the business partner even uttered Islamophobic comments.

Even though police reached the spot, the youngsters say they were subjected to biased treatment akin to murderers.
Sahal said the police then took the youngsters to the police station on a police van while the lady and her partner were allowed to reach the station separately.

In the Laxmi Nagar police station, they were even denied access to the washroom, Sahal said.

At the police station, the lady and his business partner, according to Sahal, alleged that youngsters encroached their apartment and are creating nuisance with around 15-20 people living in the apartment and are ‘running some racket.’

The derisive treatment only reduced when leaders including Rajya Sabha MP Adv Haris Beeran got involved in support for the youngsters. When the lawyers appeared for the youngsters and the landlord came, a compromise talk was initiated, and police agreed to check video of the assault that was endured by the youngsters before.

In the compromise talks, the business partner outrightly refuted the allegation of Islamophobic comments he made. The lady, who earlier raised the allegations that she was molested, shifted her stance to being hit in the shoulders.

The landlord who has been cordial till now, however, wants them to leave the place and not get involved in the trouble. Due to persistent pressure, the students apparently are moving out of the space where they can stay till October 17.

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Apart from the physical and emotional turmoil, the students are now subjected to monetary loss as well. They now seek police protection while they shift the room.

He also added that they faced issues in finding homes for Muslim students even before. The incident is one among several incidents in which Muslim students are finding it difficult or denied accommodation in the national capital.

Timeline contacted the Laxmi Nagar police station, but they refused to give more details on the complaints and compromise talks that happened in their premises. One officer, when asked about the incident, called the matter a ‘trivial issue’ and disconnected the phone call.