'They Punched Me, Threatened to Kill Me': Elderly Muslim Man Attacked on Train

(Documenting communal violence is a key focus area in The Quint's reportage. Such stories involve a lot of work and often come at great personal risk to our reporters. Please help us continue to expose hate.)

(Trigger Warning: Description of violence).

Seventy-two year old Haji Ashraf Ali Syed Hussain alias Ashraf Munyar has been left traumatised since he was assaulted by a mob on a train Jalgaon to Kalyan, allegedly for carrying beef. The video of the incident, which took place on 28 August, has now gone viral on social media.

The police had arrested three accused but in less than a day, all three were released on bail on 1 September. However, due to efforts by NCP leader Jitendra Ahwad, the bail of the accused have been cancelled. Section 302 (Uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) and Section 311 (Robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) have been added.

In the full video accessed by The Quint, the mob hounded and cornered Ashraf, repeatedly questioning him over the contents in a container, adding that "Our Shravan is going on, *abuse*, you are carrying beef."

The mob also threatened to "call Bajrang Dal to kill him," as can be heard in the video.

Even as an evidently scared and helpless Ashraf pleaded and tried to explain, the mob relentlessly asked him who the meat was for, where he was taking it, hurled abuses at him and even gave rape threats to him and the women in his family — all while recording throughout.

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The video purportedly showed that at least four men from the crowd slapped and punched him as pleaded and stated he was carrying buffalo meat and not beef.

'They Tore My Clothes Too,' He Recounts

Ashraf who hails from Chalisgaon, was also admitted to a hospital in Mumbai. Hours after, rumours emerged that he took his life after the incident. Jamiat Ulama of Dhule put out a statement that he is alive and requested people not to spread any such misinformation.

Ashraf himself also recorded a video to debunk rumors and show gratitude to the support he received.

Thank God, I'm fine and I want to thank the people of my community who are speaking up for me, for showing support. Whatever you have done for me, thank you. Please do not do anything wrong and I pray that nothing untoward happens to you too, God has kept me safe.

Haji Ashraf in another video

The Quint has accessed the FIR that was filed at Thane police station at night on 31 August, Saturday. All of these sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita except one are bailable offences. Section 190 which pertains to unlawful assembly being guilty in prosecution of a common object is subject to the conditions.

This is one of the reasons why the accused were probably able to get the bail easily. And now the additional charge of 311 is a non-bailable one.

Other BNS sections include: 189 (2) Punishment for unlawful assembly, 191 (2) Punishment for Rioting, 126 (2) Wrongful restraint, 115 (2) Voluntarily causing hurt, 352: Intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace, 324 (4) Punishment for Mischief and 351 (3) Punishment for criminal intimidation.

On 1 September, Judicial Magistrate VP Shinde ordered cancellation of bail of the three men — Akash Ahwad, Nilesh Ahire, and Jayesh Mohite.

In the FIR, Ashraf recounted that he left at 8 am on 28 August to go to his daughter's house in Kalyan and travelled in Dhule CST Express in third general compartment.

He stated that it all started when a 24-25 year old boy asked him to move so he could sit. To him, Ashrad had responded that since there was barely any space and said, "Are you going to sit on my lap? The boys looked at him angrily.

At 1 PM, when they reached Kalyan, Ashraf picked up his bag and took out his tiffin.

He wrote, "I was carrying buff in two tiffins from Chalisgaon. The boys asked me what meat is that and I told them it is buffalo meat. They forced me to stay back and then started abusing me and starting shooting a video on their mobile phones."

"One of the boys whose face was covered with a handkerchief started punching me. Eventually the boy sitting in front of me started punching me in the face and eyes and started kicking me in the stomach....They also tore my clothes," he continued.

The mob had also forcefully taken his mobile phone and Rs 2,800 that he had in the front pocket of his Kurta.

"They also threatened to throw me out of a running train and kill me," he noted.

Around half and hour, Ashraf went to the police station but he alleged that the police did not register his complaint that moment.

Later, he threw away his tiffin boxes in a creek in Kalyan, reached his daughter's house and then went to hospital for treatment.

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What The Police Has Done So Far

Under the lynching guidelines set by the Supreme Court in the Tehseen Poonawalla case, the police is ought to take immediate action and arrest the accused, in addition to forming a cyber information portal to report such communal incidents on. Failure to take action can lead to action against the police.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has begun a probe into the incident, identifying some individuals involved.

Thane police also put out a statement on 31 August wherein they said that Assistant Police Inspector Gopal went to the house of Ashraf's daughter and questioned him regarding the case. Adding that they are taking further legal action against the arrested and checking the CCTV footage and the viral video.

Earlier, PTI quoted an anonymous police official saying, “We have taken cognizance of the video and identified the victim. Some of the people involved in the attack have also been identified, and a probe is on.”

One of the accused in the video has been identified as Aashu Avhad.

As per reports and his own Instgram bio, he is a son of SRPF ( Special Reserved Police Force) official. These men were travelling to give a police exam in Mumbai.

A member of the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India), Sarfaraz, assisted Ashraf in filing the FIR. While speaking to the media said that such incidents have been on the rise in Maharashtra.

He noted that in the end, the public in train asked the mob to let Ashraf go else they would have thrown him out of the train.

"This incident should not have happened in the first place. We know that the people who are in front of us, their mentality is such that they don't have any mercy. We are trying to get more sections added to make it the charges non-bailable," said Sarfaraz.