The Waqf Amendment Bill is now a law in India, signed off by the President after making its way through both houses of Parliament. But the moment it passed, trouble started. People rushed to the Supreme Court, filing petition after petition, saying it’s against the Constitution and stomps all over the right to religious freedom. Since then, a certain community—mainly Muslims—has been fuming, and their anger is starting to spill out into the open, sometimes in ugly ways.

One shocking example of this happened recently, and it’s got people shaking their heads. A retired Army officer was brutally attacked during a cab ride from Kanpur to Lucknow, all because he dared to talk about the Waqf Bill on the phone. The incident has sparked a fresh wave of outrage, showing just how dangerous these tensions have become, especially when Muslims take their frustrations too far.

The man at the center of this mess was retired Colonel Suryapratap Singh, a respected figure who now works at the District Sainik Rehabilitation Welfare Board in Kanpur. On Saturday, April 5, he booked an Ola cab for what he thought would be a simple trip between the two cities. He settled into the backseat, probably expecting a quiet ride. But midway through, his phone rang. It was a friend, and they started talking about the Waqf Bill—something everyone’s been arguing about lately. For Singh, it was just a normal chat about what’s going on in the country.

What he didn’t realize was that the driver, a Muslim named Wasim, was eavesdropping. And Wasim didn’t take kindly to what he heard. Instead of keeping it to himself like a decent person, he let his anger simmer. While still driving, he secretly called up a bunch of his friends, setting the stage for something awful.

That’s when things turned nasty. “Colonel words did not go down well with the cab driver Wasim and he first abused him and then attacked him,” Singh later said. Wasim didn’t just stop at hurling insults—he went full-on violent. He slammed on the brakes, stopped the car, dragged the Colonel out onto the road, and then, with his gang of buddies who showed up, started beating the man senseless. This happened around 10 pm on April 4, and a video of the aftermath has since blown up online, showing the world what these thugs did. Singh said they didn’t just stop at the beating—they robbed him too. “The Colonel alleges that the attackers also looted important documents and Rs 3,000 from the back pocket of his pants,” he added, furious about the whole ordeal. He even called out the police, wondering why they weren’t doing more to catch these criminals.

Singh didn’t let it slide. He went straight to the Achalganj police station in Unnao and filed a complaint, naming Wasim and the other unidentified attackers—most of them Muslims—in the FIR. The police have started looking into it, but Singh isn’t holding his breath, especially after what he saw that night.

He took matters into his own hands by posting a video online, showing his injuries—cuts, bruises, and a limp that made it hard to walk. “In the video, he accused the cab driver and his associates of targetting him over his phone remarks, which he claimed were casual observations about the Waqf Board controversy currently making headlines across the country,” he explained. To him, it was just talk, but to Wasim and his crew, it was an excuse to unleash their rage.

Here’s how it all started. Singh had booked the cab from Kanpur Cantt to Lucknow around 10 pm on April 4. The driver, Wasim, comes from the Babupurwa area of Kanpur. While driving, Singh was on the phone, talking about the Waqf Board mess that’s been all over the news. That’s when Wasim lost it. He started arguing, getting in Singh’s face. When the Colonel told him to back off, Wasim pulled out his phone, shared his live location on a WhatsApp group, and sent some shady messages. Clearly, he was calling in his gang for backup.

A bit further down the road, the car stopped. Suddenly, 5-6 young Muslim guys showed up, armed with sticks and sharp stones. They swarmed the Colonel, hitting him hard. “Several blows were made on the head, due to which the colonel fell unconscious,” Singh recalled. When he came to, he was still surrounded by these attackers, his head pounding and his body aching. He pointed out one guy, Arif, as the ringleader, and said most of them were Muslims, clearly out for blood over his Waqf comments.

That video he posted? It went viral fast. People online were horrified, slamming the Muslim attackers for ganging up on a retired officer over something so petty. But some tried to twist it, saying Singh might’ve been drunk because his speech sounded off and he was wobbly. “While many expressed outrage at the alleged assault, some users questioned whether Singh may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time, citing his slurred speech and unsteady movements in the video,” the chatter online noted. The police and eyewitnesses haven’t said yes or no to that yet. “Eyewitness accounts and preliminary police statements have neither confirmed nor denied the claim of intoxication, but officials noted that a medical examination had not yet been conducted at the time of reporting,” they reported. Either way, it doesn’t excuse the savage beating he took.

This isn’t just some random fight—it’s tied to the bigger mess around the Waqf Board. “The incident comes amid a heightened national climate where religious and institutional discussions have increasingly become flashpoints for confrontation,” people are saying. The Waqf Board, which handles Muslim properties, has been a lightning rod lately, and this attack shows how far some will go when they don’t like what they hear.

When the police got word of the attack, PRV 112 showed up at the scene. But Singh wasn’t impressed. “The Colonel alleges that till the arrival of the outpost in-charge, the attitude of the police was in favor of the attackers,” he said, frustrated that the cops seemed to side with the Muslim mob at first. Singh isn’t just any guy—he’s a retired Colonel and the District Sainik Welfare and Rehabilitation Officer in Kanpur, living in Vrindavan Sector-6, Lucknow. He’s filed a complaint and is demanding a proper investigation, tired of seeing these violent troublemakers get a free pass.

The police are trying to calm things down, promising to dig into it. A senior official said, “No one has the right to take the law into their own hands,” but actions speak louder than words. So far, they’ve nabbed Wasim and one other guy, according to news outlets like Times of India, but the rest of the Muslim gang is still out there. The investigation’s ongoing, and people are watching to see if justice actually happens.

This wasn’t just a cab ride gone wrong—it was a vicious attack by a Muslim driver and his friends who couldn’t handle a retired Colonel speaking his mind. As the video keeps spreading and the story grows, it’s a stark reminder of how quick some in the Muslim community are to turn to violence over something as simple as a phone call.