Karnataka - Mysore

It’s the poor who bear the brunt

MYSORE: Aslam, Tabrez Pasha, K. Ramu and Surendra are from economically weaker sections of society, who had no connection with the events that triggered Thursday’s violence. They are all admitted in various hospitals in Mysore.

While Salim (27), Vasim (21) and Suhel (22) are in a critical condition at a private nursing home, Ajmal Pasha, (25), Usman (25), Zuber Khan (24), are slowly recovering. “It is the poor and innocent who become the victims, and those responsible escape unscathed,” said Aslam, an auto driver of Shanthinagar, who was injured in alleged police firing. Showing his mauled fingers, Aslam, who is the sole breadwinner of his family of five, said, “How can I support my family in future?”

Recalling the sequence of events, he said that violence was at its peak when he was returning home from work. While a violent mob took to the streets, the police who were chasing them opened fire. He held his hands up and a bullet hit his fingers. He immediately rushed into a house nearby with his fingers bleeding. After normality returned, the police took him to hospital. Tabrez of Ghousianagar was attacked by a mob with boulders and clubs. “Had the police not arrived in time, they would have finished me,” he said.

Ramu (55) of Kyatamaranahalli, who works as a security guard in the Jain temple in Hallikeri, said, “While returning from work on Thursday morning, a mob attacked me. One miscreant hit my head with a weapon and I lost consciousness. I woke up in hospital.” The condition of Surendra (27), a bar-bender in Gandhi Nagar, is critical. Doctors said that he had undergone surgery and his condition was serious.

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