On 13th October 2024, a Durga Visarjan procession was attacked in Maharajganj, Bahraich. During the attack, Ram Gopal Mishra was killed. 70-year-old Vinod Mishra and Divyang Satyavan Mishra are among the victims who suffered serious injuries in this attack.
Vinod Mishra, an eyewitness to this attack, said that the Muslim mob attacked Hindu devotees after being incited from the mosque. The Bahraich police had termed his claim on social media as ‘misleading’. Now a similar claim has been made by Divyang Satyavan.
Speaking to OpIndia, Satyavan said that on that day, announcement was made from the mosque that, “Wherever you find a Hindu, kill him there.”
Satyavan said that after this announcement, a mob of Muslims attacked the Hindu devotees present in front of Abdul Hameed’s house. He also says that people involved in the Islamist mob were saying, “Hey Hindus, run away from here or else I will shoot you.”
The Islamic mob also attacked handicapped Satyavan
Satyavan Mishra is physically more than 80% disabled since birth. OpIndia reached Satyavan Mishra’s house and spoke to him. Satyavan is disabled in both legs and one hand since childhood. He moves on a wheel chair. He cannot even drive the wheel chair for a long distance because the only hand working to drive it gets tired very soon. On the day of the incident, Satyavan Mishra was sitting in a trolley near the same idol in the procession of Maa Durga, which was targeted during stone pelting by the rioters. He was applying tilak to the devotees by distributing prasad with his one working hand.
Satyavan is still trembling with fear
When the OpIndia team reached Satyavan’s village, he was found lying on a cot outside his house. Satyavan Mishra had deep wounds on his face. His body was shaking while talking about the incident. Fear could be clearly seen in his eyes. Satyavan, who was injured by a sharp weapon below his lips, was not even able to speak. He started crying while remembering the violence. He showed us his back which had turned black.
After a while, Satyavan, while regaining his composure, told us that he has been distributing prasad and applying tilak to the devotees during the immersion procession of Maa Durga for the last 25 years. He says that on the day of the violence, the DJ with his trolley was stopped at Abdul Hameed’s house. Abdul’s son Sarfaraz was hell-bent on stopping the DJ while he was abusing everyone else. When the devotees refused, Sarfaraz ripped off the DJ’s wire. As soon as Hindus protested against this, stones started raining from Abdul Hameed’s house.
Had Abdul Hameed accepted his son’s mistake, there would have been no dispute
Satyavan Mishra further tells us that the hand of the statue of Maa Durga was broken during stone pelting. After this, people of Hindu community sat on a dharna and started demanding action against Sarfaraz. In this chaos, Abdul Hameed also came out. The elders among the devotees were demanding that Abdul Hameed should accept his son’s mistake and rebuke him. However, Abdul Hameed did not agree to this. On the contrary, he kept justifying his son’s violent act.
Satyavan further tells us that when Abdul justified the attack on Maa Durga idol, the devotees of Maa Durga sat on a dharna on the road and asked the police to arrest Sarfaraz. The police were not ready to arrest Sarfaraz. Following this, some devotees involved in the immersion yatra got furious, including Ram Gopal Mishra. They reached the roof of Abdul Hameed’s house and took out a green flag and waved a saffron flag.
Both legs handicapped, Satyavan could not even run
Satyavan further tells that a mob of Muslims reached his trolley during the riot. By then, all his companions present in the trolley had fled. Satyavan with his disabled legs tried to move but couldn’t, then about half a dozen attackers climbed the trolley and beat him badly with sticks. Satyavan suffered injuries on his head and back. Satyavan’s face was attacked with a sharp weapon.
According to Satyavan, he bled a lot and gradually he became unconscious. Kallu’s son Lallu and Munna Kabadi etc. were among those who attacked him. It is said that the attackers had swords, knives and guns etc. Satyavan doesn’t even know who picked him up from the spot and took him to the hospital. His condition was very serious in the hospital. Finally, after being referred to Lucknow, Satyavan’s life was somehow saved in the trauma center there. Satyavan finally said, “We are Hindus. We were killed because we are Hindus.”
OpIndia has access to a video of Satyavan Mishra being loaded into a government ambulance and taken to a hospital. Satyavan’s face is covered in blood in the video. There is a large cut mark below his lips. Satyavan has expressed hope that the Uttar Pradesh government will take strict action not only against the attacking Islamic fundamentalists but also against the guilty policemen.
