Muslim boy thrashed for refusing to chant Jai Shri Ram

Within days of the alleged thrashing of a 'madarsa' (Islamic Seminary) in a moving train in Uttar Pradesh, yet another Muslim youth was allegedly assaulted for refusing to chant 'Jai Shriram' in state's Kanpur town, about 90 kilometres from here.

According to the police sources here on Saturday, the youth, identified as Taj Mohammed, was beaten up by three-four unidentified persons in Barra locality while he was on his way home after offering prayers at a nearby mosque on Friday evening.

The youth alleged in his complaint lodged with the police that the motorbike-borne miscreants asked him to take off his skull cap and chant 'Jai Shriram'.

''I took off the cap but refused to chant Jai Shriram...they started thrashing me after my refusal....some passers-by rescued me...the miscreants fled after people started assembling there,'' he said.

Police said that a case was registered and the investigation was on. ''We are trying to identify the miscreants,'' said a police official in Kanpur.

Barely a few days back a Muslim teen, who was a student of a madarsa in Bareilly town in the state, was allegedly ''abused, assaulted, stripped'' inside a passenger train near Babrala in Sambhal district by some youths.

There have been a spate of incidents of thrashing of members of the minority community in different parts of the country in the past few days.

Barely four days back a 'madrasa' teacher was allegedly forced to chant 'Jai Shriram' and later pushed out of a running train near a railway station in West Bengal. Earlier a Muslim youth was also forced to chant 'Jai Shriram' and allegedly lynched to death by a mob in Jharkhand.

Muslim outfits on Saturday took processions in the state capital to register their protest over the incidents.