Jamaatis under attack, 19 cases filed in Haryana

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 11

From firing at mosques to being beaten inside their homes for ignoring the ‘lights off’ call of the PM to hate campaigns on the social media, Muslims in Haryana have been at the receiving end ever since Tablighi Jamaat members were found to be infected with the coronovirus.

Till date, 19 cases have been registered against 89 and 28 persons arrested for attacks on the Muslim community in Haryana, even as 107 of the 1,608 Jamaatis traced so far have tested positive. In Panipat, 72 persons have been named in seven cases while 13 have been arrested.

On April 2, eight persons allegedly attacked Karamvir’s family with sharp-edged weapons at Dhansanauli village and then entered a nearby mosque and beat up a man. “We ran upstairs and bolted the door. The police arrived after an hour despite frantic calls. They (attackers) kept saying the Muslims must be expelled as they are spreading the virus,” recalled Karamvir, 64. He has now moved to Panipat city with his family.

In the same village, Firoz Rubaan and his wife Mohsina were allegedly attacked on April 3 by a group of six persons, also involved in the attack on Karamvir’s family. Rubaan is recuperating in a hospital.

In Kundli, Sonepat, some youths attacked Naruna Masjid gates and damaged CCTV cameras on the night of April 6. At Sonepat’s Badwasani village, 30 persons ransacked the village mosque on April 4. In Gurugram, some youths, who were reportedly looking for Jamaatis, opened fire at Dhankot mosque on the night of April 4.