24yo man held for assaulting 3 men collecting ‘zakat’

Meerut: A 24-year-old man was arrested after a widely circulated video purportedly showing three Muslim men being assaulted in Ruadayan town of Badaun district triggered outrage on social media.In the video, three men – Abdul Salam, 60, Mohd Arif, 35, and Javed Khan, 55, residents of Mohiddinpur under Sahsawan Kotwali area – are seen approaching the locality during Ramzan to collect zakat (charity). They were enquiring about the Muslim neighbourhood and directions to the highway when the incident occurred.Police said the accused, Akshay Kumar, 24, who was riding a scooter, stopped the trio and asked their names. He allegedly removed Javed's cap, slapped the men repeatedly and chased them for nearly 500 metres while hurling abuses and questioning them. Salam said the incident occurred on Feb 16 when they were seeking contributions for a madrasa. "When we told him we had come to collect donations, he began abusing us and assaulted us," he alleged. He claimed they did not report the matter immediately due to fear of social stigma and asked the others to remain silent.Two days later, a video of the incident was circulated on social media with a song containing provocative slogans. "After seeing the video, we approached the police," Salam said. He added that the area has around 700 Muslim families and urged strict action, stating that no one should be targeted based on appearance or religious identity.SP Badaun Brijesh Kumar Singh said police registered an FIR under Sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(3) and 352 (criminal intimidation) of the BNS and arrested the accused. Further investigation is underway, police said. The Uttar Pradesh Congress posted the video on X and criticised the govt, alleging that such attacks on minorities have increased in recent years.