A youth was stabbed to death and his two brothers were injured by a group of people inside a crowded train coach after a dispute broke out over a seat at Ballabhgarh station in Haryana on Thursday night. One person has been arrested.
The deceased has been identified as 17-year-old Junaid. His brothers Hasib (21) and Shakir (23) suffered serious injuries.
Shakir is recovering at AIIMS Trauma Centre in Delhi.
Rafiq Ahmed, a close friend of the deceased’s family, told The Hindu over phone that the assailants, around 15-20 in number, snatched the skull cap of one of the brothers, hurled religious slurs, and called them “beef-eaters.”
It all began at 7 p.m. when Hasib and his brother Junaid along with their two friends were returning home to Khandawali village in Faridabad in a local train after shopping for Id at Sadar Bazar in Delhi. As per the First Information Report, the two brothers and their friends boarded the train at Sadar Bazar around 5.30 p.m. while the assailants took the train at Okhla. The assailants pushed the Muslim youths, who were playing Ludo, to make space for themselves, but an altercation broke out when the latter objected to their behaviour. It soon took a communal colour when, according to the FIR, the assailants started hurling religious slurs at them. Hasib called up his brother Shakir, who boarded the train at Ballabgarh station, along with some friends. Again the assailants provoked the brothers, and soon stabbed Shakir, Junaid and Hasib, injuring Junaid seriously.
When the train halted at Asaoti railway station, the assailants jumped off and fled. Hasib and his friends then took Junaid to hospital but he was declared brought dead.
