Punisol (West Bengal): A 60-year-old Muslim hawker in West Bengal’s Bankura district was attacked on September 6 by three men who stabbed him in the neck and stomach and allegedly tried to force him to chant “Jai Shri Ram.”
The victim, identified as Maimur Ali Mandal, is a resident of Punisol village under Onda Police Station in Bankura district. The attackers are reportedly from Kadmapara, near Lokpur in Bankura town.
What followed after the attack was equally disturbing. As Mandal writhed in pain, bleeding on the busy road, the assailants allegedly threatened him – warning that if he went to Bankura medical college and hospital for treatment, they would kill him.
Mandal says that the accused also hurled abusive remarks targeting his community. Despite the incident happening in broad daylight on a crowded road, no one intervened.
“After lying there in a pool of blood for some time, another hawker finally picked me up from the road. All my belongings were scattered around. Hearing their threats, I was terrified and set off on my bicycle towards my village,” Mandal told The Wire, his voice heavy with pain.
This incident has raised pressing questions: Why did such violence erupt in Bankura – a place with no history of such communal incidents? Who is responsible for poisoning the atmosphere?
‘Stabbed me in the neck and stomach, asked me to chant Jai Shri Ram’
When The Wire visited Mandal’s home in Mukshapara (also known as Riya Para), the mood was tense and fearful. Mandal, who was lying on a cot with bandages on his neck and stomach, was in visible agony.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.