Malda: A Muslim man was allegedly assaulted by four people in a moving train in West Bengal, after he failed to reply to their queries on the prime minister and the national anthem, the police said on Friday.
The victim, a migrant labourer, was on his way to Kaliachak in Malda district from Howrah on May 14, when the four got on the train and sat next to his seat after he briefly de-boarded at a station, a police officer said.
When he came back to his seat, they started asking him questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the national anthem and state chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the police officer said, adding that the man was roughed up when he could not reply to the incessant queries. Though he knew who the Trinamool Congress supremo was, he didn’t know the name of the president. When the man protested against their verbal assault, mumbling he hadn’t studied much, the four, while constantly abusing him, asked, “You know how to read namaz, right? Then why don’t you know the national song?”
The group, as can be seen in the video, also asked the labourer about Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan. The group later got down at the Bandel station.
A local NGO – Bangla Sankriti Mancha – lodged an FIR yesterday against the accused, based on videos taken by co-passengers, Kaliachak police station inspector-in-charge Suman Chatterjee said.
An investigation into the matter is underway, Chatterjee added.
(With inputs from PTI)