IN connection with the assault on three Muslim students in Ramesh Enclave in Delhi, who faced violence and threats and were made to chant Mata ki Jai/Bharat Mata ki Jai slogans, a delegation of the Delhi state committee of CPI(M) met the three injured students on March 30. Dilkush, Naeem and Ajmal, all students in a local Madrassa in Ramesh Enclave, Delhi were assaulted by a gang of five men who coerced them to shout slogans like Mata ki Jai/Bharat Mata ki Jai. All three of them were badly beaten, one of them, Dilkush suffered serious fractures. The students are all from very poor families in Bihar who have come to Delhi to study. They are traumatised and are in a state of fear. After the meeting with the victims, this issue was taken up with the National Commission for Minorities. A delegation comprising Brinda Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Nathu Prashad, Delhi state secretariat member and Ram Pal, Delhi state committee member of CPI(M) met Naseem Ahmad, chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, and submitted a memorandum on March 31. The memorandum noted that this is clearly a hate crime motivated by hostility towards minorities. The atmosphere created by leaders of the ruling party at the centre at different levels is the context in which such crimes are occurring. It said that the FIR copy given to the victims, does not include any clauses connected with communal violence. On the contrary an effort is being made to whitewash this aspect as it has wider ramifications and to reduce the crime to a “personal dispute.” It is essential that they are provided immediate compensation. However neither the Delhi government nor the central government has taken any notice of this serious case in the capital of the country. This is a case which directly relates to an assault on minorities and therefore is within the mandate of the Minorities Commission, the memorandum said. Naseem Ahmad expressed concern over the incident and assured that appropriate action would be taken.