A horrifying incident of a gang attack on a family of travellers has come to to light, this time on the Shikohabad-Kasganj passenger train. According to The Times of India, a Muslim family comprising of 10 people, including women, children, elders and a differently-abled teenager were returning from a marriage ceremony when they were brutally assaulted and robbed by a gang of youths on Wednesday evening in Manipuri district of Uttar Pradesh. One of the family members, 50-year-old Mohammad Shakir, suffered a head injury and a fracture in right hand. He told TOI, “It was a horror which I cannot forget. They attacked us with iron roads, robbed our belonging and molested our women. They didn’t even spare my 17-year-old physically and mentally challenged son.”

He added that the family was verbally abused. He stated that attackers said, “Kill them, they are Muslims”, and they continued to beat us until we went unconscious.” Speaking to The Hindu, Shakir said the culprits had singled them out on seeing the veil-clad women in the family. “’They shouted that these people are mulle and let us beat them’. When they jumped inside the train they groped the women, snatched their chains. When some of the passengers tried to rescue us, they attacked them too after which the passengers left for other coaches,” he told The Hindu. The report adds that three people have been caught so far.