Seat scuffle, beef slur lead to murder on Mathura train

One minor Muslim boy was allegedly stabbed to death and four others were injured on board a Mathura-bound train, police said on Friday, when an argument over a seat turned into religious slurs and triggered a mob attack on family members returning home from Eid shopping.

The incident took place on Thursday evening between Okhla and Asoti in Haryana, a distance of about 60 km.

Police said one person was arrested on Friday and he has confessed to his involvement in the killing of Hafiz Junaid (16), which came amid several incidents of assaults on Muslims across the country over beef and cow slaughter.

Opposition parties accuse the BJP-led government at the Centre of not reigning in fringe groups which are allegedly targeting the minority community over issues considered sacrosanct by the Hindus.

The four injured told Hindustan Times at Khaddawli, a small village in Haryana’s Faridabad district, the attackers repeatedly called them “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters”, threw their skull caps on the floor, caught their beards and taunted them with terms such as “mulla”.

Junaid was a student of Islamic studies in Surat, Gujarat along with his brother Hashim (20). The other injured are Md Mausin (16) and Md Moin (18).

Junaid’s elder brother Md Sakir, who boarded the train at Ballabgarh after being informed over phone by one of them, was also allegedly stabbed and is admitted to AIIMS.

Hashim said trouble started when a group of 15-20 people boarded the train at Okhla and asked the four to vacate the seat, which led to an argument.

JUNAID AND HIS TWO BROTHERS WERE RETURNING HOME TO HARYANA AFTER EID SHOPPING IN DELHI

NEW DELHI: It was on Wednesday evening that both Junaid and Hashim attained the title of a “Hafiz” after investing more than three years in memorising the Quran by heart.

In its celebration, they got ₹1,500 as a reward from their mother.

It was their first Eid after becoming a Hafiz and they wanted to look their best.

To celebrate and shop, they planned a visit to Delhi’s Jama Masjid and promised to return before sun down. One of the two could not.

“Junaid was so happy that he will be formally felicitated for their achievement on Eid. Since Ramzan started, he and Hashim had been reciting the Quran everyday at the mosque. They wanted to look good, so they specially went to purchase a new set of clothes to Jama Masjid,” Jallaluddin, Junaid’s father, said.

“Their mother asked them to fetch the best sewaiyan and sweets to be served on the festival. He promised to reach home early, but what reached home was his dead body. How could those men be so cruel to have pierced my son’s body like that,” he said.

“He was a child. He was just 16. How could they hate us so much to have killed him so brutally. When I reached the spot, my son Hashim was sitting on the station with Junaid’s body soaked in blood in his lap,” he added, even as he was being consoled intermittently by fellow villagers in Khadwali, Haryana.

Jallaluddin had reached Ballabhgarh station to pick up his sons so that they could go to open the fast together, but when he reached the train had already left.

“Sakir called me saying that he was going to the station to pick up the boys. He asked me to come to the station as well. He never told me that there was a problem,” Jallaluddin said.

When I reached the station, the train had already left. When I could not locate the boys I called Sakir, he also did not take the call. Junaid and Hashim too did not pick. I thought the boys must have left. What did I know that they were fighting for their life,” he furtehr said.

Saira, Junaid’s mother, was oblivious to the news of her son’s death. Till Friday morning she was not informed about it.

When the women from the village started visiting her to console her, she wondered why they were there.

“The women kept coming and asking me about Junaid. I wondered why they were referring to him in the past tense. No one ever told me that he was no more. How could they hide it from me,” Saira said, fighting back her tears.

“I got to know only when his body returned home this morning. When he did not reach home last night, I kept asking his father about his whereabouts but no one answered me,” she said.

Saira said she will never be able to celebrate the festival of Eid.

“This time it was special. My sons became the Hafiz — The preservers. And a day later I lost him. How can this be justified. How am I to cope up with this loss?”