Having fled Titoli village in Haryana over a month ago, shortly after a mob ransacked the house of his nephew Yameen for allegedly slaughtering a cow on Id ul-Azha, 54-year-old Maman is still afraid to go back to his house during daytime.
What troubles him most is that his own community meekly surrendered to the diktat issued against him by the majority community in the village. “I stood by my community through thick and thin, but they surrendered to the diktat from the villagers that I could not return to my own house in Titoli unless I shaved my beard. It pains me the most,” said a misty-eyed Maman, while sitting at the Sheeshe Wali Masjid in Chameli Market on Tuesday.
He was forced to flee the village after a mob allegedly tried to attack him on August 22, and accused him of instigating Muslims to assert their religious identity and create disharmony between the two communities.
Maman went to live with his son, a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Navy, in Goa, but returned to Rohtak on September 20 when he got to know that a meeting had been held in Titoli and a diktat was issued to Muslims to take up Hindu names, give up beards, and not sport any visible markers of their religion.
Religious identity
Maman said the Muslims in the village had shunned their religious identity to a large extent following the riots during Independence, but were slowly beginning to reassert it over the past two-three decades.
“The new generation in the village mostly have Muslim names now. We have also been offering namaz at a mosque in the village over the past one decade. These diktats now aim to curb this change,” said Maman, who used to lead the prayers.
The 54-year-old said that a few of his well-wishers in the majority community had told him that he could be attacked if he entered the village with his beard.
“I fear for my life. I go to my house after sunset and leave early in the morning. I have no faith in the administration either. I expect justice only from Allah,” he said.
Maman recalled how his cousin Mahender Khan, an ex-serviceman, had to shave his beard so that he could enter the village after his brother, Jaiveer, died in a road accident.
Maman’s younger brother, Jaipal, also an ex-serviceman, told The Hindu that he was present at the meeting when the diktat was passed. He said that members of his own community stopped him when he tried to raise his voice. “We were grossly out-numbered by the people from the majority community. They were in there hundreds and we were just a dozen,” said Jaipal, a cashier in a private bank.
The diktat was oral and those present in the meeting were warned from not making any videos, alleged Maman.
‘Muslims are scared’
Muslim Development Society head Mussrrat Khan said that Muslims were too scared to report the matter to the police.
“We tried to encourage the local Muslims to speak out, but they are not ready. It is feared that even if a few people are arrested on their complaint, how long can the police give them protection? Maybe for a few weeks or a few months. What will happen after that,” asked Mr. Khan.
Maman claimed that Yameen’s family was yet to return to the village.
Superintendent of Police (Rohtak) Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said there were no reports of any communal tension in the village. He added that the police would act as per law in case there was any complaint regarding the diktat passed by the village.
