Police in India have arrested five people after a mob stormed a university hostel and assaulted international students there who were offering a Ramadan prayer.
The attack happened on March 16, when dozens of men forced their way into the hostel inside Gujarat University in Ahmedabad city, after a heated argument over the location of the prayer.
Investigations showed that some 15 students were offering Taraweeh – a special nightly prayer occurring during Ramadan – at around 10pm inside the hostel when at least three people confronted them, insisting that the students go to a mosque instead.
A heated argument ensued, Mr Navid Siddique, one of the students, told the Times of India.
The men left, but returned with a mob armed with iron pipes, rocks and knives.
They were shouting, “Jai Shri Ram!” (Hail, Lord Ram), as they “went on a rampage in the hostel assaulting students in their rooms and damaging property and vehicles”, Mr Siddique told the Times of India.
Another student from Afghanistan told local NDTV network that the men broke laptops and phones, and went after motorcycles parked outside the hostel.
At least five students were treated for injuries. Three have been discharged from hospital.
A senior police official told BBC Gujarati that the names of the five arrested men are Hitesh Mewada, Bharat Patel, Shitij Pandey, Jitendra Patel and Sunil Dudhirua. He said more people may be arrested soon.
Police have not confirmed whether the men are connected to any political or religious organisations.
Noman, another student from Afghanistan, told BBC Gujarati that similar incidents had happened before.
“There is a lot of risk here for students from other countries,” he alleged.
Around 300 foreign students – many from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and African countries – are studying at Gujarat University. Reports say the injured students were in India with scholarships from the federal government-backed Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Dr Neerja A Gupta, vice-chancellor of Gujarat University, told reporters over the weekend that there had been tensions between the foreign students and the attackers for some time.
“As per the information available with me, the (prayers) is not the main issue,” she told reporters.
Dr Gupta said the foreign students would be moved to new hostels with better security and facilities.
Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of Parliament from the southern city of Hyderabad, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to “intervene to send a strong message”.
Gujarat is Mr Modi’s home state.
“Domestic anti-Muslim hatred is destroying India’s goodwill,” he wrote on the social media platform X, tagging India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
This is not the first time that tensions have played out over Muslims offering prayers in India.
In 2021, Muslims offering namaz in public places in Gurgaon faced regular interruptions and protests from members of Hindu hard-line groups. Earlier in March, a policeman in Delhi was suspended after he was caught on camera kicking Muslim men offering namaz on the side of a road.
