Why the Bidar lynching survivors won't offer chocolates to children again
HYDERABAD: Each time would spot children, he would playfully offer them candies, something, he says, had become more of a habit.
A regular visitor to India, this 38-year-old from Qatar had gifted chocolates and fruits whenever he came across children on his visits here. But when he did the same at Bidar on Friday, where he chose to throw chocolates at a bunch of children from a moving car, it ended up in the worst nightmare for him.
Surrounded by a 1,500-strong mob determined to kill, Kubaisi would perhaps never make the ‘mistake’ of gifting candies to children again. “It would have been a sure-shot death,’’ recalls Kubaisi, who was one of the five persons attacked by the mob on the suspicion that they were child abductors. His friend, Mohammed Azam of Barkas in Hyderabad, died in the attack.
“Azam was dragged out of the car but I stayed inside the vehicle. They threw stones and hit me with sticks from all sides and I stayed put in the car,” Kubaisi, his face and body filled with bruises, told Express in an interview. He works in the police department in Qatar.
With his fractured left hand in a sling, the Qatar national, who was admitted to Yashoda Hospital at Malakpet, asked for his phone from his relative to make his point that the mob was out to kill them for nothing. Writhing in pain and being careful not to further stress left his or right hand, he played a video where they were seen parking the car near the water body when the mob started attacking them.
Kubaisi, surrounded by a mob of 1,000 to 1,500 people, escaped from the jaws of death as he stayed inside the car though it fell off a narrow bridge and landed on its side. Recalling sequence of events, he said that after reaching a village, he started playing marbles with a bunch of kids.
“Thereafter, we were driving to a place where good honey is available. On the way I saw some kids and threw chocolates at them through the car window and headed towards a waterfall,” said Salham who was travelling along with Mohammed Azam, Noor Mohammed, Mohammed Salman and his friend Afroz-who is from Bidar.
After reaching the waterfall, they got down and were shooting photos and videos when a group of people rushed to them and deflated their car tyres. “They asked us why we had given chocolates to children and who we were. When Afroz was explaining that he was a local and we all were there on holidaying, a mob of more than 100 people, armed with sticks and stones, rushed towards us branding us as child kidnappers,” said Noor Mohammed (21), a businessman from Barkas in Old City of Hyderabad.
Under attack from mob, Salham got back into the car along with Azam and Salman while Noor and Afroz were left behind. “Blood started trickling down my face when I was hit on the head with a stick. The mob panicked and left us. We went on a bike to Afroz’s home where my wounds were treated,” Noor said. Salham said that he was racing out of the village but the car toppled and fell off a bridge and as the stone-pelting intensified, Kubaisi chose to remain in the car. Salham said that the mob dispersed when police reached the spot.
Despite being in intense pain, Salham said that he would leave India to either Qatar or UK immediately. Mohammed Salman was discharged on Sunday afternoon.