In a chilling incident that happened at Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, a man was seen being given electric shocks after being tied to bed. The man, identified as Shiv Kumar Verma, later revealed that he was tortured by a few Muslim youths after he had objected to them using obscene abuses for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
According to media reports, Shiv Kumar Verma, who hails from the Sarai Meer region, was heading towards a vegetable market last week when he noticed that two youths named Aayub and Yusuf were hurling vile abuses towards PM Modi, CM Yogi, the BJP governments, and even for the Hindu community.
Shiv Kumar then objected to their explicit rant, after which the youths started cursing and threatened him by saying “we would take care of you tomorrow”. They lived up to their promise by sending two criminals to his home the next morning, who then put a gun to his head and after muzzling his mouth, proceeded to kidnap him. This was all revealed by Shiv in a video recording that went viral yesterday.
After the kidnapping, Shiv was allegedly taken to Yusuf and Aayub’s home near Jahangir Ganj, where the criminals proceeded to tie him to a metal bed and started giving him electric shocks. They apparently even recorded a video of the incident where Shiv Kumar is seen crying in excruciating pain while some of his torturers were heard laughing at his pitiable condition. Not just that, they also proceeded to assault him and also cut off one of his fingers.
After Shiv Kumar’s condition worsened and he fainted, the kidnappers proceeded to dump him on a street near his home. His acquaintances somehow came to know about the incident and he was later transferred to a district health center by the police. He then filed a complaint with the police.
The news was surprisingly carried by no leading English news outlets, though Hindi news websites belonging to the same media companies carried it. The incident was confirmed as real when Azamgarh police tweeted out this update:
#newsupp युवक को हाथ पैर बाँध कर पीटने के आरोपियों को @azamgarhpolice द्वारा गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेजा गया l #uppolice pic.twitter.com/WSmSCjJGXK
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) July 17, 2017
From the above information provided by the UP Police, the interesting aspect to note here is that the culprits had accused Shiv Kumar of stealing mobile phone, and that is what they appeared to have told the police about the reason why they kidnapped and tortured him. Needless to say, even if someone does steal a phone, the law doesn’t allow anyone to kidnap or torture the ‘thief’.
However, the sections imposed in this case corroborate the claims of Shiv Kumar about abusive words being used against the leaders and the Hindu community, and the fact that he was threatened and tortured.
As is clear from the tweet of UP Police, the culprits have been booked under section 147, 148 which is about rioting, section 149 which pertains to prosecuting everyone who was present while Shiv Kumar was being tortured. They have also been booked under sections pertaining to kidnapping, attempt to homicide, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.
The sections that point towards the abusive and communal angles are:
- Section 124 A which deals with sedition due to the words spoken or written which express disaffection, contempt or hatred against the government.
- Section 153 A which pertains to promoting enmity based on divisions like religion, language, race etc.
- Section 504 about intentionally insulting with the intent to provoke breach of peace.
- Section 295 A which relates to deliberate and malicious acts which are intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
Shiv Kumar is currently recovering from the injuries inflicted on him during the torture.
