KL Report
NAGPUR
At least six people, including a goon, have been arrested by Nandanvan police for allegedly thrashing, abusing and threatening Kashmiri students and forcing at least 28 of them to leave the city. All boys, students of Pandav College, were staying in the city in rented rooms at Hasanbagh since three years.
A police complaint was lodged two days after the students left the city and it is believed that the students’ landlord dared to come forward and file the complaint on Wednesday evening. All students were staying at two buildings owned by complainant Mohammad Aasif Abdul Aziz.
Gaffar Ali (42), a petty criminal, Mohammad Shaikh Sultan Shaikh Shafi (19), Ehsaan Ansari Javed Ansari (23), Abdul Shahrukh alias Sonu (21), Shaikh Nayeem (37) and Mohammad Mansur (33), all residents of Hasanbagh, have been booked for offences relating to rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, threatening and other offences of Indian Penal Code.
DCP Zone IV Chandra Kishore said, “A Kashmiri student had an illicit relationship with a relative of Ali’s wife. Since then, Ali has been harassing the boys.” Some sources, however, said the woman in question was Ali’s wife. Another theory is that Aziz’s son had an affair with a local girl, which did not go down well in the locality.
Students claimed that they have been suffering at Ali’s hands since 2010. “They would stop one of us and slap and abuse us,” said a student who has came back to his room after being assured of protection by city police.
On Monday, Ali and his accomplices ransacked the students’ rooms and assaulted them with pipes. They also warned Aziz to get the rooms vacated.
“They were more than six. It was horrible and terrorizing. They ransacked our rooms, pelted stones at us, beat many of us with pipes and thrashed us ruthlessly. Our landlord and his son tried to save us but were beaten badly,” said a student who requested not to be named. He said some of the boys had gone to stay with their friends in the city while some had shifted to other rooms in rural areas.
For two days, neither the students nor Aziz reported the matter to police. It came to light after one of the students e-mailed a complaint to Kashmiri Students Cell in the Intelligence Bureau, New Delhi. Later, it was informed to city police commissioner K K Pathak and immediate action was taken.
The students said that fearing harassment by goons, they did not approach police. A few of them claimed that they had informed the college authorities but no action was taken.
Senior police inspector Sunil Jaiswal said that the police have assured the students of security. “Police has been deployed at the hostel and we have requested the students to come back. So far, seven students have returned,” he said.
