Men beaten up, mosque vandalised in Karnal

Around half-a-dozen Muslim men were allegedly beaten up and the mosque they were in was vandalised by locals protesting against the volume of the loud-speaker during namaz in Haryana’s Karnal district on Wednesday.

A case has been registered, but no arrests have been made yet.

The police said that a group of young men in Karnal’s Newal village allegedly barged inside the local mosque around 9 p.m., beat up the men offering namaz and also destroyed the speakers. The youth were allegedly agitated over the “loud sound of speakers during azan”.

Sameyan Khan, a local resident, said the men were beaten up without any provocation. “The villagers also pulled down a wall inside the mosque,” said Mr. Khan.

Inaam Khan, a local Muslim leader, said this is not the first time that such an incident has happened in Karnal. He added that the minority community did not get much help from the police.

Kunjpura police station SHO Inspector Raj Kumar said that a case was registered on charges of voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, unlawful assembly and rioting.