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A migrant returning to his home in Jharkhand all the way from Hyderabad was allegedly assaulted on the way and accused of spreading COVID-19. His family claims the police back home turned a deaf ear to their appeals.
Mohd Majid Ansari narrated his ordeal to The Quint. Here’s his story.
19-year-old Majid and his two younger brothers had to quit their studies owing to their family’s worsening financial condition. Majid had no option but to go to Hyderabad looking for a job. He was working in Hyderabad as a Poplen machine driver and was earning Rs 15,000 every month.
He lost his job when the nationwide lockdown was announced. With no salary for two months, depleting resources and extending lockdown, Majid made up his mind to go back home.
On 12 May, he left for home on foot. He walked all the way from to Nagpur, then Jhansi, and then reached Kanpur on a truck on 16 May. On 17 May at 2 am, the police stopped their truck at a checkpost outside Kanpur City.
Majid told The Quint, “We were stopped at a police checkpost and were asked where we were headed. When we said we were returning home, they let us go. After walking for a while, one policeman came and told us that we need to get a coronavirus test done. We agreed and were taken away in an ambulance.
Majid went on to narrate how the ambulance driver's assistant then told him, “Sit quietly, you are Muslims, you are spreading coronavirus.” And then he got into a physical scuffle and kept hitting him. The driver also came and strangled him with a gamcha (cotton towel). He kept struggling against the assaulters and ended up breaking the glass door.
Majid’s brother Sajid got a call from him on 17 May and he got to know about his brother’s ordeal. However, Majid’s phone got switched off in the middle of the communication and there was no way Sajid could know about his brother’s whereabouts. So he decided to file a complaint with the local police station.
Majid had left Hyderabad because he wanted to go home. Instead, he had to run for his life in a different state. Majid said that he somehow reached Lucknow on foot, hungry and thirsty, but with no money. The ambulance driver and his assistant had allegedly snatched his ATM card, his licence and the 7,000 rupees that he was carrying. He had a mobile but that got switched off. Finally, some policemen in Lucknow came to his rescue and put him on the bus that was going to the Bihar border. From there, Majid somehow reached his home in Mandu, Jharkhand.
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