Muslim war veterans’ family branded ‘Bangladeshi’ by Hindu mob in India
Three generations served in India’s armed forces—but in Modi’s India, their Muslim identity was enough to invite suspicion, abuse, and threats of deportation
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — In a chilling example of how India’s Muslim citizens are being criminalized under Hindu nationalist rule, a family of decorated war veterans in Pune, a major city in western India’s Maharashtra state, was targeted by a Hindu extremist mob that accused them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators.”
Accompanied by police, the mob barged into their home just before midnight, hurled slurs, demanded identification, and detained ten men from the household.
This is not an ordinary Muslim family. Their legacy is stitched into the fabric of India’s military history.
Naimullah Shaikh, the family patriarch, fought in the 1965 war against Pakistan alongside Abdul Hamid, who was later posthumously awarded India’s highest military honor, the Param Vir Chakra.
His brother Subedar Saleem also served in the same war. The next generation, Lance Naik Hakeemuddin, fought in the Kargil war of 1999 and later represented India in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Angola.
Yet, on a quiet Saturday night, this family of veterans was treated as enemies of the state.
The incident took place in Chandan Nagar, a suburb of Pune, where the family has lived for over five decades after migrating from Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh. Around 11:35 p.m., the family—women, children, and elderly—was jolted awake by aggressive pounding on their door.
Outside stood a group of around 70 men, affiliated with Hindu extremist organizations like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, along with uniformed police officers.
“When we opened the door, they burst in,” said Nawab Ali Shaikh, a 41-year-old member of the family. “They shouted that we were Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. They didn’t care about our ID cards or our history.”
The mob demanded Aadhaar cards—a national biometric ID issued by the Indian government, insulted the family with communal slurs, and dismissed their documents as fake—even after verification. “They said even if the IDs are real, we don’t deserve to live in this country,” Nawab said.
The invaders then forced ten male family members to walk through the streets—escorted by police—while chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” a slogan now closely associated with anti-Muslim hate campaigns.
According to a report by Newslaundry, the family was then taken to the Chandan Nagar police station and detained until 3 a.m. There, they were split into rooms, interrogated, and told that unless they returned the next day with further documentation, they would be declared illegal immigrants.
When Nawab’s younger brother Shamshad Shaikh, 35, returned the next day with the names of their ancestral village and local police station in Uttar Pradesh, only then were they verbally cleared—though their documents were not returned. To this day, no First Information Report (FIR) has been registered, despite a written complaint.
The complicity of police has sparked further outrage. Inspector Seema Dhakne admitted that members of Bajrang Dal and VHP were present during the raid, but claimed the police had merely gone to “verify reports” of illegal migrants. Her justification? Night-time checks are not unusual.
But for the family, the terror was real.
“We are Indians. Three members of our family have served this country,” Shamshad said. “How can we be treated like outsiders in our own country? Just because we are Muslims doesn’t mean we’re Bangladeshis or Rohingyas. What’s worse is that the mob was accompanied by police. We are born in this country and we have birth certificates to prove it.”
Even Pune’s Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar acknowledged the matter and said legal action would be taken if police were found to be complicit. But civil rights groups argue that such statements mean little without accountability.
The Shaikh family’s case is not isolated. Across India, there has been a rising trend of Hindu extremist mobs—often working with or enabled by local police—targeting Muslims under accusations of being “illegal immigrants” or “infiltrators.” These attacks are not random—they are part of a broader ideological project to delegitimize and disenfranchise India’s 200 million Muslims.
For the Shaikhs, the trauma lingers. Their documents are still in police custody. Their names, dignity, and loyalty to the nation have been questioned.
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