A 27-year-old Islamic scholar, Maulana Barkati, has alleged that he was physically assaulted and threatened with communal slurs while travelling by train from Delhi to Akbarpur in the wee hours of July 11. The alleged incident, he said, has left him traumatised and fraught of travelling by train.
According to Barkati, he boarded the train in Delhi at around 2 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Akbarpur at approximately 5 a.m. He was travelling to attend an Islamic programme.
Recounting the incident, Barkati told FoEJ Media that at around 4:30 a.m. he went to the washroom, where he noticed four young men standing nearby and staring at him. He said he initially ignored them and entered the washroom.
“There were four people standing there. One of them was wearing a saffron-colored T-shirt. All four of them were staring at me. I ignored them and went to the washroom,” Barkati told FoEJ Media.
After coming out, while brushing his teeth near the washbasin, Barkati alleged that one of the men approached him and asked, “Maulana, tell us, do you think there was theft at the Ram Mandir?”
Barkati said he replied that he had no knowledge of any such incident, adding, “I neither committed any theft nor witnessed one. How would I know?”
He alleged that as he resumed washing his face, one of the men suddenly struck him forcefully on the neck and demanded to know where he was travelling. When he questioned why he had been hit, Barkati claimed that three of the men began shouting, “Maaro mulle ko” (“Beat the Muslim”), while allegedly hurling abusive language at him.
“While I was washing my face, one of them suddenly struck me forcefully on the back of my neck from behind and said, ‘Maulana, tell us, where are you going?’” Barkati said.
“I said, ‘I am going to Akbarpur. But why did you hit me?'” he said.
“As soon as they heard this, they all started shouting together, ‘Beat the Maulana!’ and began chanting slogans,” Barkati added.
Fearing for his safety, Barkati said he ran back into the passenger coach, shouting for help. He stated that two police personnel present on the train responded, leading the alleged attackers to flee to another coach.
“I believe that if the police had not arrived at that moment, something similar could have happened to me as happened to Maulana Raza,” Barkati said.
Maulana Raza of Bihar’s Kishanganj district was traveling to Bihar from Bareilly when he was allegedly killed after being assaulted and thrown from a moving Rishikesh-to-Muzaffarpur Special Train. near Bareilly railway station on April 26.
The alleged assault had a profound impact on him, Barkati said. Instead of attending the religious programme in Akbarpur, he chose to return home immediately after getting off the train.
“I have been travelling for 15 years, and nothing like this has ever happened to me. Now I am afraid to travel,” he said.
The incident came to light when Maulana Barkati took to social media platforms and narrated the ordeal. However, no official statement has surfaced to confirm the incident.
