Highlights
- Mob pelted stones at a house in Gurgaon, Haryana, and beat up members of a family
- Attack apparently triggered by a game of cricket on Hindu festival of colours, Holi
- Six people arrested for attempted murder
Neighbourhood vigilantes went on a rampage with sticks and swords on Holi night, barging into a house and assaulting members of a Muslim family in Gurgaon, India, dishing out insults and carting away valuables.
In the attack, which apparently erupted after a cricket ball hit someone, the goons severely beat up the men and pushed children and women of the house.
It went on for several minutes and was captured on a family member’s mobile phone.
The incident took place in Bhondsi, Gurgaon, in India's Haryana state, when guests who had come to visit the family were also beaten with sticks and rods on the night of Holi, the festival of colours.
The brutal attack took place after some of the attackers allegedly approached the boys of the family, who were playing cricket outside and demanded that they “go to Pakistan and play”, Indian media reported.
Video grabs of the assault were captured on a family member’s phone.
The video initially shows family members in the upper floor of the house blocking the entrance door to prevent the entry of attackers.
The camera then points to the scene downstairs showing the attackers hitting the men of the house, while the women are seen wailing.
The video, posted on Twitter, shows the gang members screaming: "Go to Pakistan".
Indian media reported that at least one person was arrested for the crime late Friday night.
According to the first information report (FIR) filed with the local police, the incident took place around 5pm, at the home of Mohammad Sajid.
I was in the kitchen making food when I heard a ruckus outside. By the time I went out, the men had barged into our house and started beating people up. I begged them to leave us, but they paid no heed.
Sajid hails from Uttar Pradesh and has been living in Gurgaon's Dhamaspur village for the last three years with his wife Sameena and six children.
According to the police complaint, Sajid’s nephew Dilshaad, who was among those beaten up, said the trouble started when he was playing cricket with some others in a vacant plot near the house.
“Two unknown men came on a bike and said, ‘What are you doing here? Go to Pakistan and play’.
They began fighting and when my uncle Sajid intervened, the boy sitting at the back of the bike slapped him and said, ‘You wait, we will show you’,” he alleged in the police complaint, adding that 10 minutes later, they saw six boys on two bikes and several men on foot approaching their home, armed with “bhalas” (spears), “lathis” (sticks) and “talwars” (swords).
Indian media reported that a case has been file under IPC sections 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 452 (house trespass), and 506 (criminal intimidation). “Some of the accused have been identified. We are conducting raids and expect to make arrests soon,” inspector Surender Kumar, SHO of Bhondsi police station.
Sajid's wife, Sameena, said: “I was in the kitchen making food when I heard a ruckus outside. By the time I went out, the men had barged into our house and started beating people up. I begged them to leave us, but they paid no heed.”
“They broke the windows, our cars and took away valuables, including a pair of gold earrings, a gold chain and Rs25,000 I had kept in the house,” she said.
