A Muslim youth succumbed to his injuries in Rajasthan after they were allegedly assaulted by forest officials and local residents on suspicion of stealing wood from forest on Thursday night. Two other people sustained injuries in the incident, police said, reports The Indian Express.
The incident took at Narol village under Harsora police station limits in Kotputli – Behror district.
The deceased has been identified as Waseem while Asif and Azharuddin who were with Waseem at the time of the incident were injured. Waseem, a Meo Muslim, is survived by wife and four children, including a specially-abled child.
Police said that three forest officials and some local people have been detained in connection with the matter.
Based on the complaint by Waseem’s father Tayyab, a resident of Tapukara in the newly carved Khairthal – Tijara district, police have registered a case under sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint).
Reportedly, the three men had gone to Rampur village in Bansur to collect wood on August 17, and had to return around 10 PM on hearing about forest officials’ patrol, when they were waylaid by a group of men, IE reported, citing sources.
As they stopped their vehicle, 3-4 men got down from JCB, while 7-8 people stepped out of the Forest Department’s jeep. They then assaulted the three, the injured men told police.
They further told police that the assailants had hit Waseem’s chest using sharp weapons, and attacked them with iron rods and wooden sticks, and alleged that although police came to their rescue, the assault continued even before the police personnel.
However, Waseem’s family allege that he was attacked based on a rumour that the men were cow smugglers. His brother demanded action against those who were behind Waseem’s death.
Kotputli Additional SP Vidhya Prakash Jat said that a team was sent to the spot upon receiving information that some wood smugglers were coming from Hamirpur on a pickup truck and are being followed by a forest team.
“When police reached the spot there was a crowd of local residents and a JCB machine and the three injured men. The police shifted the injured to Bansur for treatment, and when the health of one person, Waseem, deteriorated, he was sent to Kotputli hospital. However, he died at the hospital,” Prakash said.
“The post-mortem report is awaited but prima facie, there is one injury from a sharp weapon on Waseem’s front region (torso). The other two men sustained non-life threatening injuries,” the officer said, as quoted by IE.
Meanwhile, Opposition BJP has hit out at the Gehlot-led government over the incident saying that “law and order situation in Rajasthan has deteriorated”.
“The law and order situation in Rajasthan has deteriorated. CM Ashok Gehlot’s government has completely failed…I have never seen such a crippled government in the state. Those committing crimes are roaming freely in the state,” Union Minister Kailash Choudhary said, as quoted by ANI.