Four days after a mob attacked an Iftar gathering in the Saswad area of rural Pune, the police are yet to make any arrest. 

An FIR was filed hours after the incident against ‘unidentified persons’ under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal intimidation, etc. The police have also invoked Sections 4 and 25 of the Arms Act, 1959, and Section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951.

On the evening of March 13, at around 6.30 pm, by the lakeside at Bopdev Ghat, near Saswad, Pune, a mob had descended on a gathering of Muslim youths breaking their fast during Ramzan and assaulted them. While the victims estimate that over 150 people participated in the assault, police place the number closer to 50.

‘Muslims cannot sit here’

Firoz Javed Sayyed, a member of the gathering, stated that he and 14 of his friends were sitting by the lakeside to break their fast when, suddenly, a large group arrived at the spot.

“One of our companions, Ameen, required 14 stitches to his head, while Shakib sustained deep wounds on his back. They beat us mercilessly, shouting, ‘Muslims cannot sit here’’,” he said. “Eight of my friends – Ameen Ashfaq Shaikh, Saqib Banedar, Afnan Altaf Shaikh, Fardeen Hussaini, Parvez Mulla, Ali Abbas, Zubair Bagwan, and Altamash Shaikh – were injured…We called the police by dialling 112…FIR was finally registered late at night.” 

Ameen Ashfaq Shaikh said he was in the ICU for two days. “Before we could even comprehend what was happening, they began taunting us, saying, ‘Is this your father’s property? Why are you sitting here?’...they beat us mercilessly.” 

“They attacked my head with something that felt like an iron rod. When we tried to flee, they pelted stones…My iPhone was snatched…They ripped the caps off our heads and tore our clothes. They warned us never to return to this place wearing a Pathani kurta again.”

Fardeen Hussaini, who works at a call centre in Pune, said it was the “first time something like this has ever happened to us” in the area where they meet regularly. “Not a single arrest has been made. We had identified some of the perpetrators and shared their photographs with the police; while the police did take them into custody, they subsequently released them – presumably under some unknown pressure,” he alleged.

The CCTV question

Police claimed CCTV cameras on the spot were not functional. Asked about the photographs shared by the victims, Kumar Kadam, the SHO of the Saswad police station, told Newslaundry, “Regarding the photos submitted, we meticulously analysed the activities of those individuals over a span of 15 hours – from morning till evening – to correlate them with the events of that day. After scouring through a vast amount of CCTV footage, we established that these individuals were not involved in the attack. Consequently, the 10 people we had initially detained were released the following day.”

Kadam said, “We arrived at the scene around 9:30 pm, shortly after the incident, and inspected all the cameras. We observed that the cameras were not functioning…It is a completely desolate and isolated area. Although we have identified several individuals involved, we cannot disclose their names to you at this juncture. The FIR was registered against ‘unknown persons’ because, at the time of filing, their identities had not yet been established.”

Azhar Tamboli, Maharashtra president of the Social Democratic Party of India, who is also currently providing legal assistance to the victims in this case, has alleged that this attack was premeditated. “The police initially detained several individuals in connection with this case; however, under pressure from a crowd of more than 1,000 villagers from nearby areas who had gathered outside the police station, they released the accused. We have written a letter to the Superintendent of Police (SP) demanding impartial action.”

Newslaundry reached out to Pune (Rural) SP Sandeep Singh Gill for comment, but received no response. We will update the story once he responds. 

Kadam is confident of apprehending the accused. “No arrests have been made in this case yet because all the individuals involved have fled the village. But we expect the accused to be apprehended very soon.”

Local activists, however, argue that the attack on the Iftar gathering was no isolated incident, but rather a symptom of a systemic pattern of mob violence targeting the Muslim community. Taj Siddiqui, the legal counsel for the victims and an activist, noted that targeted attacks on minorities are becoming “alarmingly frequent” across rural Pune. 

As a recent example, he cited an incident where a Muslim truck driver was allegedly forced to consume cow dung after being accused of illegally transporting buffaloes. Siddiqui further claimed that the hostile environment has triggered an exodus of Muslim families from the region. He also highlighted restrictive local “norms”, alleging that land ownership is strictly controlled to ensure Hindu-only purchases, and that “outsider” Muslims are strictly prohibited from offering Namaz in the area.

Newslaundry earlier reported on a campaign of intimidation in a Pune (Rural) village that forced at least 250 of its 350 Muslim residents to flee.

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