Print journalist from Kashmir assaulted in Pune; police call it case of road rage

Noticing that his motorbike had a Himachal Pradesh (HP) registration number, the duo said they would pack him off to Himachal Pradesh. The altercation turned violent when he corrected them saying he was a native of Kashmir.

Jibran Nazir (Facebook page)

Pune:  A 24-year-old journalist from Jammu & Kashmir has said the assault on him by a mob was not an organized one even as the local police have called it an incident of road rage. Jibran Nazir, who works with a  leading daily in Pune, said the assailants told him that they would "send him back to Kashmir" and asked him to pursue his journalism in the Valley. Police Friday said the journalist was thrashed by two men Thursday night during a squabble at a traffic signal. Nazir said when he told the attackers that he was from Kashmir; they got aggressive and beat him up more. He claimed that the men were drunk and fled the spot after realizing that he actually was a journalist. The assailants later apologised to him at the police station, he said. A police official said it was an incident of road rage and not linked with the Pulwama attack. The incident came a day after students from Kashmir studying in a college in Yavatmal were Wednesday attacked, allegedly by members of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena. Nazir said he was attacked on Tilak Road around 10.45 pm when he was returning home on a motorbike. As he stopped at a traffic signal, two men on a motorbike behind him started honking, asking him to move, which led to a heated exchange. Noticing that his motorbike had a Himachal Pradesh (HP) registration number, the duo said they would pack him off to Himachal Pradesh. The altercation turned violent when he corrected them saying he was a native of Kashmir. They snatched his mobile phone, damaged his bike and fled. After Nazir noted down their bike number and approached the Swargate police station, police located the assailants, in their early 20s, who came to the police station with their parents and apologised to him. Calling it "mob mentality", Nazir said he decided not to pursue the matter further and has withdrawn his police complaint. (With additional information from PTI)