Clothes yanked off, stomped in face for not speaking Hindi; Malayali students face brutal abuse from police and assailants in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Malayali students were brutally beaten up in Delhi on charges of theft. Kozhikode native Ashwant IT and Kasaragod native Sudhin K, first-year political science students of Zakir Husain Delhi College, were beaten up by a gang of assailants and the police. The students have filed a complaint with the Delhi Police Commissioner and the National Human Rights Commission, saying that the mundu they were wearing was yanked off and they were kicked in the face for not speaking Hindi.

The incident took place at a market near the Red Fort on Wednesday night. At around 7 pm, a man approached the students, allegedly offering them an Apple Watch and a phone. After they refused, he returned with about six others five minutes later and beat them up, accusing them of stealing his phone. The students say that they complained to the policeman present there, but the police also beat them up, along with the attackers. In the meantime, the gang seized the students' phones.

Dragged by the collar

Ashwanth said that he tried to report the incident at the nearest police station, but the police did not listen and the beating continued there too. Sudhin was also taken there and beaten in front of the locals. The locals dragged him by the collar. When he spoke in English because he did not speak Hindi, the police beat him with a fiber lathi. The students say that they were beaten up, including in their private parts. It was the college seniors who reached the spot, spoke to the police and released them. The injured students sought treatment at the hospital. MP John Brittas wrote to the Police Commissioner and MP V Sivadasan to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding action against the culprits and an investigation into the incident.