Mumbai: Law student pays the price for saving his community

A law student who has been working to help his communitymdashIranimdashshed the lsquothiefrsquo tag had to pay the price for his good deed Recently someone torched his scooter that was parked outside R City mall in Ghatkopar while he was watching the FIFA World Cup finals Sadiq Aulad Hussain 27 said that because he has been helping cops catch the chain snatchers and petty offenders from his community some have held a grudge against himThe Parksite police in Ghatkopar have registered an FIR against unknown persons and are checking CCTV cameras of the areaHussain told midday that he recently helped Ghatkopar police arrest four chain snatchers He suspects some took revenge for this by setting his scooter on fireAt times Hussain has accompanied the cops to the residence of the accused as the family members and the community members protest the attempt to arrest themSadiq Hussainrsquos scooter before it was burntEarlier this year midday had reported a series of stories about police targeting the Irani community in an event of chain snatching in the city Police say that as per their records more than 60 per cent of the chain snatchers are from the Irani communityAlso Read Man attacked kidnapped by trio in Vasai cops launch manhunt to nab suspectsHussain is not only helping the police catch the real culprits from his community but also fighting for the rights of others against whom police have allegedly filed fake casesHussain lives with his family at PSB colony in Ghatkopar West and is in the fourth year of LLB Bachelor of Law Hussain purchased his Honda Duo four years back and said that he always parked his vehicle wherever there were CCTV camerasSadiq Aulad Hussain the victimAccording to the police the incident occurred late Sunday night when Hussain and his friends had gone to the mall for the match He parked his scooter near Pankhe Shah Baba dargah However that night he returned home on his friendrsquos scooterNext morning around 530 am a called him and told him that his scooter was on fire By the time he reached the spot the twowheeler was completely burnt Hussain said he found something near his burnt scooter either petrol or some kind of chemical that was used to burn his scooterldquoI am trying to clear my communityrsquos name and image while also helping cops to nab the real accused involved in petty offenses But this gang of people are targeting me and only trying to frame me in a fake case They have now burnt my vehicle I told the cops that someone from the gang which I helped them bust six months back is behind thisrdquo Hussain told middayldquoThe entire community is not involved in criminal activities but only a few people They are destroying the name of our community with the incidents of chain snatching because of which people have given the Irani community the thief tag The Irani community has been in India since the past seveneight generationsrdquo Hussain explainedThe police had arrested a gang of chain snatchers following which they launched a combing operation to hunt down its members Hussain had then helped the cops look for the accused and visited their homes They arrested seven people following that operation with the help of HussainEarlier members from the Irani community were involved in the business of horse trading carpets stones spectacles and jewellery However as time passed only the stones and spectacles businesses survived forcing many out of work Some people then started casinotype stalls at local fairs and some would cheat their customers by bluffing The cops referred to it as ldquobol bachchanrdquo crime Many continue to do this for a living Around eight to 10 years ago some youths started snatching chains instead of carrying forward their traditional businesses because the criminal activity made them quick bucks07No of petty offenders he helped catch recently