A 25-year-old research student in Hyderabad was attacked on Sunday by a group of men, apparently because he was mistaken to be a Kashmiri.
Amol Singh was on his way back to his hostel in the University of Hyderabad after a protest against alleged police atrocities in Kashmir. He was allegedly attacked by a group of 20-25 ABVP members.
"They knocked me down and started punching on my face and stomach and hitting on my knees. My friends and I tried to run away into the hostel and they chased us," Singh told Hindustan Times.
Singh said that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members mistook him for Bilal, a former student of the university who hailed from Kashmir.
Bilal had completed his PhD and returned to Kashmir few months ago.
According to reports, Bilal was vocal about the plight of Kashmiri Muslims, and used to participate in demonstrations in his campus.
Students at the hostel alleged that security guards didn't intervene to protect Singh.
When Singh was taken to the hospital, another group of ABVP members reportedly started beating him up there.
However, ABVP leaders have rejected the allegations. N Sushil Kumar, an ABVP leader said that it was Singh and his friends who attacked the ABVP students.
"Those Left-wing students confronted us when we were raising Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans. They raised counter slogans like Kashmir Maange Azaadi and even heckled us," Sushil said.