Indian dies after racial attack in UK

Ekram-ul-Haque (67) was attacked by a gang of 20 men in front of his granddaughter when he was returning home after namaz

Ekram-ul-Haque (67) was attacked by a gang of 20 men in front of his granddaughter when he was returning home after namaz

An elderly Indian who was badly thrashed in London in the presence of his granddaughter recently has died. The man was being treated in a city hospital.

Kolkata-born Ekram-ul-Haque (67) was battered on August 31. Even more shocking was that his five-year-old granddaughter Mariam was made to watch the episode.
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'Mindless violence'

Though she wasn't hurt physically, Mariam saw her grandfather being battered to the ground, left bleeding and broken. Haque's 35-year-old son called the attack "mindless violence" but urged people to remain calm.

Dead: Kolkata-born Ekram-ul-Haque (67) was battered to death on August 31

Haque was attacked by a gang of 20 men at 9.50 pm when he was returning home after offering namaz at the Idara-e-Jafferiya mosque in Church Lane, Tooting, an area dominated by Asians.

His attackers ran behind him and clubbed him around the head. Two other worshippers chased the thugs away but Haque suffered head injuries.

Detailed account

The Scotland Yard confirmed that the assault was being treated as "racially motivated" and said Haque's killers were black, wore hooded tops.

Marian gave a detailed account of the incident to the police who have also sought help of eyewitnesses. Three boys aged 12, 14 and 15 have already been arrested.

Haque moved to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, in 1972. He met his wife there and the couple moved to London in the early 1980s.
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He worked in the textile industry but later became a warden in a home for the disabled from which he retired last year.

Traumatic

"They came down the road and six of them broke off from the rest and surrounded the two of us," taxi driver Imdad Buhkari told the Evening Standard.
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"They asked me for the time. I said 'I don't wear a watch' and suddenly someone from behind punched me hard on the jaw. Then they hit the old man (Atameer, the second victim) and ran off."