A garage owner accused of “beating” a nine-year-old Rohingya refugee and two others in Delhi has a history of “assaulting” others, residents of a camp in Kalindi Kunj told Newslaundry on Wednesday.

However, the garage owner’s associates and other locals told Newslaundry the Rohingya children “block” the street and make it difficult for them to carry out their daily work – and that the assault has nothing to do with the victims’ Rohingya identities. 

The child, Mohammed Yusuf, was allegedly assaulted on October 26 by one Imran. Video footage of the assault went viral on social media, showing Yusuf weeping and bleeding from the head. Two women were also injured. 

Imran was named in an FIR filed later that day at Kalindi Kunj police station, under penal charges, including voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint, and insulting the modesty of a woman. The police said the child allegedly “broke the glass” of Imran’s vehicle, after which Imran “chased” him and the child then got injured. The scuffle then broke out.

Newslaundry visited the camp and surrounding areas on Wednesday, hours after the videos went viral, to piece together what happened. 

The Kalindi Kunj camp, home to 55 Rohingya families, is separated from Imran’s garage by a muddy road. Children tend to play on this road, as seen by Newslaundry when we visited.

“We don’t have much space,” said Mohammed Salim, pradhan of the camp. “There are around 50 children. So, they mostly play on the street.”

Yusuf lives at the camp with his grandmother. His father is dead and his mother remarried and moved elsewhere. Mizan, a resident of the camp, said she was inside her home when she heard Yusuf was being “beaten very badly” by Imran. It’s unclear precisely what triggered this incident, since no one saw how it began.

Mizan “ran out to the street” where she saw Imran “abusing” another camp resident, Minara. Minara is considered a community leader by the Rohingyas. According to Salim, Yusuf’s grandmother tried to “confront” Imran and urge him to stop beating her grandson. When Imran “abused” her, Minara got involved, he said.

Mizan confirmed this: “I heard her telling Imran, ‘If the child had done something wrong, you could have told us. We could have made him understand.’ But Imran was not listening and continuously abused her.” 

Minara’s sister-in-law Hasina Begum then allegedly tried to defend Minara. “When Begum went there to stop it, Imran hit her with a tight slap,” Mizan claimed. “He took out his belt and beat her.” 

Eyewitnesses said Begum, who is eight months pregnant, “fell” at this point.

“Soon after, Imran’s boys came out with heavy sticks,” said Mizan, referring to Imran’s unnamed associates. “They started beating anyone they found on the street. We were helpless...Children were crying and screaming out of fear.”

At least four of Imran’s associates told Newslaundry they did not know how the scuffle began. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said they heard Imran being “gheraoed by women from the camp”. 

“They were trying to escalate a fight with Imran bhai,” said one of them. “In such a situation, what could a man do? He would obviously defend himself.” The associates, therefore, rushed to Imran’s aid. Imran himself refused to speak to Newslaundry. 

The police only arrived “late”, Mizan added, and told the camp’s residents to return to their homes. 

When Newslaundry met officials at the Kalindi Kunj police station on Wednesday, we were told Yusuf and the two women had been sent for a medicolegal case examination. “After that, their statements will be recorded and then FIR lodged,” one official said. 

The FIR was accordingly registered late on Wednesday. The police also told Newslaundry the “scuffle” broke out after Yusuf, while playing, allegedly broke the glass of Imran’s vehicle.

A troubled history 

But before the FIR was filed, the camp’s residents were very anxious. They claimed Imran’s associates were “threatening” them. At least 10 residents told Newslaundry that Imran and his men have purportedly assaulted “at least 10-15 children from the camp” till date.

“My son was slapped by Imran a few days ago for bursting crackers on the street,” alleged Salim, the pradhan. “His only mistake was to burst crackers. But I never retaliated and accepted it as my son’s mistake.”

The trigger for this purported anger is apparently that the children take up space on the street. The area is highly congested, and the street narrow. 

“It is very hard to commute with a vehicle as children play all day on the street,” said Bablu, who runs a shop a few metres from the camp. “Only the locals know how difficult it is to pass through the stretch of street where the camp is located. They should not leave their kids on the street.”

A worker at a nearby garage said, “We have no issues with them, except for their kids playing and occupying the whole street. Not all kids, but some have become a headache for locals. They often steal items or damage them. But if you complain, parents will put the blame on you.”

The camp’s residents point out they have nowhere else to go. “We are not staying here on our own wish,” said Kabir, a Rohingya refugee. “It is the government who has asked us to stay here.”

Another resident, Shaifulla, said, “We are living here after being displaced due to the violence in Myanmar. Nobody wants another fight here. We want to live in peace with whatever Allah has given us after all those troubles in Myanmar.”