On the night of May 18, 2021, Wasim Khan was “thrashed” by three policemen for calling the police helpline number 100. The incident took place in Fatehpur Beri Police Station, Delhi.
Wasim had wanted the police to stop the fight in his neighbourhood when it got out of control. He had no idea that merely reporting this incident to the police as a Muslim man would lead him in trouble. He was beaten so badly that he needed surgery.
As per a report published on The Wire, Khan’s uncle, Ahmed Ali, who lives in the same neighbourhood as Khan, Chandan Hulla in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur told that around 9 pm on May 17, 2021, two brothers from the area got into a fight outside his nephew’s home.
The fight escalated and others from the neighbourhood got involved. The two sides threw stones at each other. “This was when some people, including me, tried to intervene by calling the police helpline no. 100,” Khan said.
The police from the nearby Fatehpur Beri police station finally arrived at the neighbourhood at around 10 pm, broke up the fight and dispersed the crowd, said Ali. At around 11:30 pm the same night, the police knocked at Wasim Khan’s door. They reportedly told him he needed to accompany them to the police station to give his statement as a witness.
“The police gathered six of us, all Muslims, including the three of us who had tried calling the 100 helpline number. They said they needed us to give a statement about the fight. It was very late, but we went,” Khan said.
When they reached the Fatehpur Beri police station, he said, the police seized his phone and three or four policemen took him to a separate room.
“They simply took me aside and started beating me,” said Khan, his voice now cracking. “They beat me with their lathis. Sub-inspector Satender Guliya hit me with his elbows and kept striking a lathi on my back. The other two men, Praveen and Jitender, kicked me, beat me and even held me upside down.”
The three policemen in question, sub-inspector Satender Guliya, head constable Praveen and constable Jitender, also allegedly used communal, anti-Muslim slurs.
Khan recounts them yelling: “Bh**d, ab karega call? Karega call 100 number par? Tum logon ne naak mein dum kar rakha hai, Mullon saalon (S*-f***r, now tell us whether you’ll call? Will you dare to call the 100 helpline number? You people have created a nuisance, you bloody Mullahs).”
The three policemen let Khan go at around 2.30 am. “I came home in serious pain. I was also numbed by what had happened. I took some painkillers so I could sleep,” Khan said.