Local mosque in Amin village where the incident happened

KURUKSHETRA: The police have booked three men and other unidentified villagers for insulting a group of Muslims while they were praying in a local mosque in Amin village of Haryana ’s Kurukshetra district on Tuesday night.

The Kurukshetra police on Wednesday registered a case against three accused — Chaman Lal, Santi, and Devi Dayal — and other unidentified men from the same village under sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult religion), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of Rs 100), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Kurukshetra University police station to start an investigation.

The complainant, identified by a single name, Aabid, said when he and others were performing prayers in a mosque some men entered the premises and disrupted the proceedings. He claimed they also kicked him while he was praying around 9.30pm. The Muslims across the world are fasting in the month of Ramzan.

“We were performing namaz in our village mosque, when we heard some noise from outside but we continued our prayers. Suddenly, we heard abuses and by the time I could understand anything, I got kicked while praying by Chaman Lal. He said, ‘Mulla if you want to perform namaz then you should go to Pakistan ’,” he said in the complaint.

Later, Aabid said, another Muslim villager, Hakamdin’s house that is adjacent to the mosque was vandalized by the same group of men. They allegedly set a cot on fire and broke the boundary walls. “We ran behind the accused but they managed to escape. We only managed to identify Chaman Lal, Santi and Devi Dayal of Amin village,” the complainant said.

Inspector Balwan Singh, who is the SHO of the varsity police station, said the three identified accused have been booked and there is no tension in the village. “Efforts are being made to arrest the accused who are still at large,” he added. Sarpanch of Amin village Punervasu said, “These Muslim families have been living her since a very long time and there has never been any such incident in our village.”

