A youth from Jammu and Kashmir studying at a Central government university in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar has been assaulted by members of right-wing outfits for allegedly entering a Navratri Garba event, an officer said on Monday.
According to the police, the incident took place on September 27 evening when Aftaab Hussain, 25, a resident of J&K’s Poonch, went with some of his friends to a garba event, where the organisers had prohibited the entry of Muslims. A purported video of the alleged assault has also appeared on social media, showing a group of men dragging and thrashing Mr. Hussain, a second-year student at the Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya.
Superintendent of Police (Sagar city) Lalit Kashyap told The Hindu that Mr. Hussain was held by the organisers during an ID check. “Some local outfit members also arrived at the scene and beat him up. The police reached the scene immediately and took him into custody,” he said, adding that Mr. Hussain was detained under Section 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. The officer said the student was not aware of the entry ban enforced by the organisers and was let off shortly after being detained.
“We took him into preventive custody but no FIR has been filed,” Mr. Kashyap said, adding that no action has been initiated against the organisers or any other alleged persons “as there is no complaint from Mr. Hussain”.
Meanwhile, the J&K Students Association has alleged that Mr. Hussain was brutally thrashed by the members of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Hindu Jagran Manch. “Shockingly, instead of being protected, he was taken into police custody despite a clean academic record and no unlawful background,” Nasir Khuehami, national convener of the student body. said in an X post.
“False, defamatory, and concocted remarks have been made against Mr. Hussain by these right-wing elements, portraying him with malicious intent without any evidence. The reality is that he had been invited to the event by his friends,” Mr. Khuehami wrote while urging the Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh, to ensure legal action against the alleged assaulters.
Similar ban on entry of Muslim youth has been reported in various cities across the State, with the organisers and right-wing outfits alleging ‘love jihad’ by them. Organisers have also placed banners outside some events, warning that those caught violating the ban will be subjected to “ghar wapsi (a term used by right-wing groups for religious conversion into Hinduism)”.
Various BJP leaders, including State Cabinet Minister Vishwas Sarang and Bhopal MLA Rameshwar Sharma, had also made such calls ahead of the Navratri festival.
In Bhopal, the district administration had made the identity cards mandatory to enter the garba events, among other safety measures during the nine-day festival.
Published – September 30, 2025 01:56 am IST
