Another Hate Crime Hoax? Muslim Youth Staged Attack Over Forcible ‘Jai Shri Ram’ Chant, Claim Eyewitness

An Uttar Pradesh (UP) police investigative team has quoted eyewitnesses to claim that a 17-year-old youth who alleged that he was set ablaze for not chanting Jai Shri Ram, had actually attempted self-immolation, ANI UP has reported.

The youth - who is currently undergoing treatment for 60 per cent burns on his body at Kashi's Kabir Chaura hospital had alleged that four men had dragged him to a field in Maharajpur village and when he refused to chant Jai Shri Ram, assaulted and set him on fire.

As per Chandauli’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Kumar Singh, the youth later changed his statement and claimed that “four men on a motorcycle kidnapped him and took him to Hateeja village", which is in the opposite direction of Maharajpur.

The SP has also been quoted as saying that the boy’s statements were found to be false during investigation and eyewitnesses have come forward to claimed that the boy had actually attempted self-immolation.

Incidentally, similar ‘hate crimes’ were recently suspected fake including a Muzzafarnagar imam being forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by around a dozen youngsters.