In a shocking incident, a 12-year-old Muslim girl was allegedly assaulted by a group of Hindu men at one Indian Oil Colony in Shivaji Nagar, Mumbai. As per a report of the Observer Post, the family of the young girl was also targeted in the attack, with the assailants allegedly using Islamophobic slurs.
As provided by the minor Muslim girl, the incident took place when she was playing in the compound of her residence. A woman, accompanied by her son, approached the minor girl and requested to use the space for playing. The minor girl agreed to the request, however, was soon subjected to verbal abuse and physical assault. “I was playing in the compound when a woman and her son came and told me that her son wanted to play there. I gave them the space and asked them if it was free after half an hour or so, that’s when she started to abuse me,” the young girl stated as per the report.
Pursuant to this, the woman began assaulting the minor Muslim girl, even resorting to derogatory comments about the appearance of the minor girl. As per the report, the woman then brought a group of Hindu men along with her. The mob targeted the family of the minor girl and subjected them to further violence. “She called me fat and started to beat me. After some time, she, along with a few men, came to my home and beat me and my family,” the minor Muslim girl provided.
In addition to this, as per the statement of the 12-year-old girl, the husband of the woman touched her inappropriately and issued death threats. She also said that they spewed Islamophobic slurs. “Her husband touched me inappropriately and threatened me with my life,” she stated, as per the Observer Post report.
“You Muslims are bad; you should be fed pig meat,” the attackers had reportedly shouted, leaving the minor girl and her family traumatised.
As per the report, the police had stated that a FIR (First Information Report) has also been filed regarding the aforementioned decision. In the FIR, sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (Criminal intimidation), and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been invoked. Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was also used while filing the FIR.
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