Delhi: Family attacked by neighbours for objecting to buffaloes kept on road
Family members said one of the victims is battling for his life in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital.
New Delhi: Six people, including five of a family, were injured after they were attacked with iron rods, sticks and concrete bricks allegedly by nearly 20 people belonging to another family in the neighbourhood in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar on Wednesday night, after an argument over keeping buffaloes on the road, near the victims’ home.
Family members said one of the victims is battling for his life in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital.
Police said a car and three two-wheelers belonging to the victims were damaged in the attack, adding that the attackers are currently absconding. Investigators said one of the attackers, Babli Kumar (40), was also injured in the attack.
The attack was captured on a mobile phone by one of the locals. In the video, one of the alleged attackers is seen hitting a 55-year-old man -- who is now in ICU -- with a concrete object.
His family said doctors had to install steel rods in his hand to fix multiple fractures, and that he also had to undergo plastic surgery on his face because of the injuries.
A family member injured in the incident said the attack stemmed from a row going on since August last year over keeping buffaloes on the road, near their house. He said they had approached municipal authorities and the police over the issue, following which the civic officials challaned them recently, thereby escalating the issue.
One of the injured persons, aged 27, on whose complaint the FIR was registered, said that at around 10.15pm on Wednesday, nearly 20 people led by Kumar and his family members, arrived outside his house and began hurling abuses at his father.
As his father protested, the mob began attacking him and his family with sticks, rods and other objects. “They also attacked a neighbour when he tried to stop them. They kicked and punched us apart from attacking us with sticks and rods. My uncle fell on the road. One of the attackers smashed his face with a concrete brick and also attacked him with rods and sticks. They left him only when he became unconscious. The attackers also misbehaved with female members of our family. We were attacked just because we always stopped them from keeping their buffaloes outside our house, as the cattle damaged our vehicles,” he said.
A case of attempt to culpable homicide, assault, wrongful restraint, house-trespass, criminal intimidation and sexual harassment with common intention was registered under Indian Penal Code’s sections 308, 323, 341, 427, 452, 506, 509 and 34 at the New Ashok Nagar police station against the alleged attackers. The names of the injured family members have been withheld to protect their identities as police have also added sections pertaining to sexual harassment to the first information report (FIR).
“We have registered a case and our teams are making efforts to arrest the alleged accused. The quarrel took place between Kumar, his relatives as well as friends, and the members of the other family... On Wednesday, when the other family members raised objections for the cattle, Kumar along with his family members and relatives attacked them and inflicted injuries upon them,” said deputy commissioner of police (east) Priyanka Kashyap.
The 27-year-old complainant alleged that the local police had not been taking any action in previous complaints.
A police officer, who did not want to be named, said, “We will look into the accusations.”