Trouble and heated exchanges erupted in a housing society in the Mira Road suburbs of Mumbai after a Muslim family brought two goats in his flat ahead of the Eid al-Adha (Bakri Eid) festivities.
The police had to intervene and sort out the issue.
The tension started after a resident of the Estella building at J.P. Infra Housing Society in Mira Road in Thane district brought two Qurbani Bakra (sacrificial goats) inside the society.
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Video footage of the incident - in which a couple - later identified as Mohsin Khan and Yasmin Khan - can be seen taking two goats from the lift inside their house and another footage residents are seen shouting outside the society - went viral on social media platforms.
Several housing societies in the Mira Road area had decided to not allow sacrificial goats inside the building.
In protest, some persons sat on the road and started chanting 'Hanuman Chalisa' and slogans like ‘Jai Shree Ram’.
The Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar police reached the scene and defused the tempers.
The Kashimira police station has registered a case against 11 persons under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
"If bringing the goats inside the housing colony was against the law, then they should have filed a police complaint against us. We were assaulted, molested and mentally harassed by the mob that gathered to protest against us," the Khan couple said.
“Next two days you will see countless animal lovers .Purpose is not love for animals but hate towards one community,” said Waris Pathan, national spokesperson of AIMIM and a veteran lawyer.
Mohsin said that nearly 200-plus Muslim families resided in the society and that he was given space to keep his goats every year, however, only this year that the society had denied permission to keep goats on the premises and, therefore, he brought the animals to his house. “We never sacrifice in society and always get it done in a slaughterhouse or mutton shop,” he said.