New Delhi: In a show of great bravery, Shakir Hussain, a partially blind 26-year-old MPhil scholar at Delhi University, combated three attackers on a bike who tried to snatch his mobile phone.
He not only fought off the muggers but also held on one of them, while they charged at him brutally.
According to a report in The Times of India, Shakir, the 80 per cent visually-impaired scholar, was attacked by three assailants on Friday night when he was on his way to an ATM near Delhi University’s north campus.
Hussain got hold of one of them and did not let him go even as the other two attackers kept on beating him to the extent that he bled extensively.
He fought off the attackers for several minutes. The one he got hold of has been arrested by the police while a search is on for the other two.
“I had just had dinner and was out on my evening stroll when I decided to withdraw money from an ATM in the market. I was walking towards the ATM, barely 200 metres from my hostel, Mansarovar, while talking to one of my friends on the earphone. After about a minute, I heard someone calling out.As I turned, I saw three persons on a black Bajaj Discover bike right next to me,” Hussain said.
“The one sitting in the middle grabbed my phone and tried to snatch it. I could barely see the faces because of my disability but managed to grab the collar of the third person on the bike, which put them off-balance and all of us fell down,” he further added.
Hussain said that while he was firmly holding one of the attackers, the other two kept on beating him on his private parts.
The police investigated and identified the assailants as Vijay (22), Manoj (21) and Ravi (23).
“Manoj and Ravi managed to flee from the spot, but something extremely unexpected happened thereafter. When a crowd gathered around us, Vijay tried to portray as if I was the thief and had robbed him of his belongings. For a moment, people believed in the lie. But then a few shopkeepers came running and told everyone that I was a university student. Moments later, the police came and arrested Vijay,” said Hussain.
Meanwhile, Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (northwest), appreciated Shakir’s bravery and promised to honour him.
“We appreciate Hussain's courage and are planning to give him a bravery award and a cash prize. We will send the proposal tomorrow,” said Vijay Singh.
