On the 26th of April 2023, ANI posted a video where a man named Deb Ballabh, holding a pistol and 2 acid filled bottles, was threatening a class full of students in West Bengal. In Malda, it reported, that a gun wielding man tried to take a class full of students hostage. He was subsequently overpowered and nobody was hurt. A police probe is underway into the matter.
#WATCH | Malda, WB | A gun-wielding man, Deb Ballabh, tried to hold hostage students in a classroom of Muchia Anchal Chandra Mohan High School. He was later overpowered & arrested by Police. No one was injured in the incident. A police probe is underway
— ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2023
(Note: Abusive language) pic.twitter.com/86OU8Cw8Np
“We got a report that someone had entered the school. Later we got to know that he was armed. We negotiated with him and arrested him without any casualty. He seemed to have taken this action because of some family problem with his wife regarding his children’s custody which we will verify”, SP of Malda, Pradip Kumar was quoted as saying.
From the two tweets, some facts of the case become rather evident:
- The man held students hostage wielding a gun not because he had a terrorist motive, but because he had family issues and in all likelihood, had lost the custody of his children.
- There were no casualties.
- The police negotiated and overpowered him, leading to his arrest.
While many hailed the police and others questioned the law and order situation in West Bengal, AltNews’ Mohammad Zubair, who is out on bail in a case where he spread communal hatred, had different plans.
Mohammad Zubair, who had earlier posted a maliciously selective video which led to death threats against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, posted a different part of the clip to insinuate that ANI was anti-Muslim because they did not post the part of the video where a Muslim policeman was seen attempting to overpower the gunman.
“ANI doesn’t want you to see that part of the video clip where police officer Azharuddin Khan risked his life while overpowering the guy who entered a school with firearm & acid bottles, held a class full students hostage”, he tweeted.
ANI doesn't want you to see that part of the video clip where police officer Azharuddin Khan risked his life while overpowering the guy who entered a school with firearm & acid bottles, held a class full students hostage. pic.twitter.com/OGXgsjqNJ2 https://t.co/gZPtaPGNHv
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 26, 2023
Zubair essentially claimed that there was a motive behind not revealing the heroic feat of the police officer Azharuddin Khan, owing to his Muslim identity.
As soon as Zubair tweeted, several Muslim handles accused ANI of “Islamophobia”. One such Twitter user, the Hinduphobic actor Sameer Khan who had only a day ago spread fake news accusing Hindus of hate crimes against Muslims, quoted Zubair and said, “ANI = All Islamophobic News”.
ANI = All Islamophobic News https://t.co/755OLlbQlV
— Sam (@SamKhan999) April 26, 2023
As soon as Zubair tweeted, while several Islamists used the tweet to cry Islamophobia, other Netizens started calling out his blatant communalism and attempting to inject a religious angle where there existed none.
“Because ANI doesn’t see every incident from communal angle; it’s your part, and you are doing it perfectly!”, one Twitter user said.
Because ANI doesn't see every incident from communal angle; it's your part, and you are doing it perfectly! https://t.co/o71ixaoTtg
— My Version of Truth… (@BrajaSpeaks) April 27, 2023
“They’ve literally said the police team overpowered the guy. It’s their job & they did that – Azharuddin ho ya Anand. It’s his duty & has to do it. A lot of stuff happening in WB & you pick this to quote. Journalism”, another said.
They’ve literally said the police team overpowered the guy. It’s their job & they did that – Azharuddin ho ya Anand. It’s his duty & has to do it. A lot of stuff happening in WB & you pick this to quote. Journalism 😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/Gop2NvVxHA
— Pratiek Varma (@Pratiek_Varma) April 27, 2023
Another spoke about how Zubair is the most communal journalist in the country today.
Accha ab Police officer jb muslim ho to naam lena pdega . @zoo_bear se bada communal journalist india main is time koe nhi hai . He is just destroying our country . https://t.co/B3bQLM41Vg
— Fascist (@Malviya98287906) April 26, 2023
While he was being called out for his communalism, there were others who also said that his line of argument did not particularly add up.
One Twitter user said that while the police officer’s bravery cannot be denied, it is also true that he fell while attempting to overpower the gunman and it was others who jumped in, apprehending him.
while i appreciate the bravery/// from what I can see in the video is that Khan ran towards the guy and fell down.
— Khurafadi 🐧 (@Khurafadi1) April 26, 2023
the Actual danger was averted only after the rest of the folks (mostly brahmins) ran towards the mad man and apprehended him.
In fact they saved khan ji from acid
Another called Zubair out for not talking about the religious crimes carried out by Muslims but handpicking this case to insert communalism where none existed. Further, he hoped that all Muslim citizens become like the officer in question.
Zoobear, a jihadi doesn't give any speech. This man gave a long winded speech, which indicates he had no intentions to harm the kids apart from making empty threats.
— Lazarus Mission❎ (@LazarusMission1) April 27, 2023
Anyways, hope all Muslims become good citizens like Azharuddin instead of stone throwing experts.
Another Twitter user brought up Netresh Sharma, a police officer who had run through burning buildings to save a child.
Thanks for never congratulating Rajasthan constable Netresh Sharma https://t.co/ygUsJWkHx2
— भारत धर्म (@BharatDharma7) April 27, 2023
The truth of the matter is that Officer Azharuddin Khan was indeed brave. He displayed exemplary courage when he ran towards the gunman who was also armed with acid bottles, knowing fully well that he was throwing himself in harm’s way. Many police officers have displayed such courage on various occasions. Whether it was Tukaram Omble during the 26/11 terrorist attack, Netresh Sharma who saved children from burning buildings, Azharuddin Khan, whose video is now being circulated from Malda, or those officers who braved the Khalistani onslaught during the 26th January siege when so-called farmers overtook Delhi and ran a rampage or Ratan Lal, who was murdered by an Islamic lynch mob during the Delhi anti-Hindu riots.
The fact of the matter remains that in this case, there was simply no communal angle and it was Mohammad Zubair who inserted that angle by hailing the officer, not because of his bravery but because he was a Muslim officer. Had Zubair not inserted the communal spin to the case, everyone would have hailed his bravery without pointing out that he actually slipped while trying to overpower the gunman and it was the others, potentially Hindus, who rushed to apprehend the accused.
A simple case where a madman held children hostage and police officers and citizens worked in tandem to put an end to the standoff was turned into a “Hindu students being rescued by a Muslim officer” episode by the ever-so-communal Mohammad Zubair. Hindus, who did not see anything communal in this incident then started talking about the “Hindus” who overpowered the gunman and the “Hindu” officers who had shown such courage in the past as well.
While the Islamists cry Islamophobia and talk about how many citizens have now started colouring every issue through the lens of religious identities, one must think about who starts the colouring first. Often, it is those who call themselves neutral and liberal who start harping on the Muslim identity of a do-gooder and hide religious identity when religion-based crimes are committed by Islamists. This hypocrisy and their urge to paint the Hindu community as intolerant without merit, simply to save the religious zealots from the Muslim community, pushes Hindus into a corner where they are forced to defend themselves, and their religious identity and call out the blatant hypocrisy of the Islamists and Liberals. Perhaps it is time that elements like Mohammad Zubair who divide the society on the basis of religion under the garb of liberalism and fact-checking are held accountable for the hate they spread on a regular basis.
