Muslim Youth Tortured by Same Community Members

Patna: March 05, 2003

It is a case that could have very well happened in the 19th century America when Whites and Blacks used to have separate bathrooms and African Americans were addressed with the "N" word. Or it could very well be the culture of Osama bin Laden and his ilk.

Sadly it's neither about the segregated America nor the poster boy of the terrorists bin Laden. The barbaric incident took place right here in Bihar at Hasanpur Osti village under Mahua Police station near Hajipur, a stone's throw from the state capital. A Muslim youth, Akbar, from a lower caste was tortured by the upper caste people of his own community to the point that it's nothing short of a miracle that he survived to tell his tale.

Akbar was tied down on a mango tree upside-down, beaten with hockey sticks, his toe-nails yanked out of his feet with a pair of pliars, his body contained cigarette burn and sharp object scars. As if that was not enough, the barbarians then sprinkled salt on his bodily wounds. Why? Simply because he fell in love with a girl of upper caste Muslim.

On February 14, the Valentine's Day, when the people across the world were engaged in courting their spouses or soul-mates, Akbar eloped with the girl to a nearby village to a relative's house. There he left the girl with his relative and returned to his village so as not to arouse any suspicion.

As the fate would be, Akbar was dragged out of his home, tied to a mango tree, and the torture began that continued all night long. The suffering stopped only when the girl, after hearing the news of the torture, returned to her family.

The matter was immediately reported with the Vaishali police but it failed to file a First Information Report. When the story became public on Monday, the police finally agreed to file an FIR at the behest of the youth's mother.

The youth remains in critical conditions with scars visible from a distance. Furthermore, the same group of people have threatened the family to finish them off if they made a big deal out of the case.

So far no one has been arrested in the case.

patnadaily.com/news2003/0...tured.html


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Youth tortured for eloping with a high caste girl

Vaishali, March 4: Akbar, 22, paid the price for falling in love with a higher caste girl in his village in Vaishali district of Bihar. The youth — son of Haadis Mian, a tailor by profession — was allegedly tortured, hung from a tree, beaten with hockey sticks, burnt with cigarette butts and his nails pulled out for daring to run away with a girl of a sheikh’s family from Hasanpur Osthi village in the district.

Three weeks later, Akbar sits in his relative’s house in Hajipur in the same district with bandages on his head and hands and burn marks on his thighs.

Akbar — who has now been expelled from the village by the girl’s family — refuses to talk about the girl, Sakina, but is willing to talk about the torture.

Villagers say Akbar and Sakina eloped on February 14 to the neighbouring Abdulpur village. Akbar left Sakina with his relatives and came back home. But the girl’s brother, uncles and cousins allegedly caught him and hung him from a tree and beat him with hockey sticks to find out where he had taken the girl.

‘‘They beat me and cut me with blades. They kept torturing me. I said I didn’t know anything but they wouldn’t stop,’’ he said. Villagers say they tried to stop the girl’s relatives from doing so but in vain. Police have acted after reports appeared in local newspapers. Akbar’s mother Amna Khatoun has now been able to file an FIR. ‘‘The girl is also responsible. Why are they not blaming her?” she asks.