Muslim family attacked on Holi puts Gurugram house on sale, says will return to UP

Maintaining that the decision was taken on Monday , the members of the family, who are still nursing their injuries, said they are “living in a constant state of panic and are worried for their children”.

Days after a mob barged into their house in Dhumaspur village in Bhondsi and attacked them on Holi, the Muslim family has decided to sell their house and move back to their village, Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.

Three of the injured at their house in Dhumaspur village, Bhondsi. The family says it had built at a cost of ₹42 lakh in 2016 but is now ready to sell at a lesser price. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Maintaining that the decision was taken on Monday after a meeting, with more than 30 of their relatives, was held in the village, the members of the family, who are still nursing their injuries, said they are “living in a constant state of panic and are worried for their children”.

Mohammad Dilshad (32), the complainant in the case, said, “We have spoken to some property dealers. My cousins even met a few of them in Badshahpur on Monday, requesting them to get the house sold at the earliest. In 2016, we spent nearly ₹42 lakh from our hard-earned money in constructing the house. But now we are ready to even sell it at a lesser price. We just want to wind up our business and return to our village in Baghpat.”

The family hails from Panchi village in Bhagpat, some 72km from Gurugram. They had moved to Gurugram in 2005 and had been living on rent till 2015.

The family runs a furniture business in Badshahpur. “People are trying to politicise the incident and we don’t want to be party to it. We are fighting for justice and are thankful to those who visited us and extended their support,” Dilshad said.

The members of the family said that the incident has affected the mental health of the children in the house. Samina, a mother of six who was also injured in the attack, said, “The children are scared to venture out of the house. They have even refused to attend school and haven’t slept since the incident. They keep worrying that the suspects will return and burn them alive – something that they had threatened to do before leaving that day. We are weak and helpless and cannot risk our lives by living in this village.”

An altercation between the Muslim family and two men from a neighbouring village over cricket took a violent turn on Holi when about 15-20 men barged into the family’s house with sticks and rods. The mob thrashed and injured at least 12 people in the house owned by Samina’s husband, Sajid Siddiqui. The others injured were the members of his extended family. According to them, the mob did not spare even children, who were allegedly pulled out of an almirah they were hiding and beaten up.

One of the victims said they did not wish to leave the area as they were doing well in their furniture business but they have not been left with any option but to leave the city. “There are only two Muslims houses and no support from locals. If we do not compromise with the accused, they will ensure we do not live peacefully,” said Akhtar Siddique, one of Sajid’s brothers.

The city police, meanwhile, said they have given due protection to the family and a team of police has been stationed outside their house. “We have deployed one vehicle and six police personnel round the clock. We will ensure the family gets justice. We will conduct fair and speedy investigation,” said Himanshu Garg, deputy commissioner of police (south).