New Delhi

Abdul, a man in his 60s, who earns a living by buying household junk in the city of Barreiley in Uttar Pradesh, stood up to an intruder and saved two women from his attack. He did it in disregard of the threat to his life and amid the neighbours looking the other way.

His courage and timely intervention helped the women catch the intruder and hand him over to the police.

The incident was reported by Shalini Arora, an animal lover, as is evident from her posts and videos on social media. It seems she was at home with her house help when a man barged in. Arora was taken aback as he advanced towards her with menacing gestures.

She screamed for help as the man hit her on the head. Her screams were loud enough for the neighbours to respond, but none showed up.

By providence, Abdul, with his cart, was moving in front of the house. He heard her screams and rushed inside and overpowered the attacker. Shalini Arora later said Abdul's gesture was an example of humanity overcoming differences of religion and class. Her statement posted on social media is going viral.

"I want to reiterate briefly that the time was around 11.15 and my housekeeper was working with me in the house. Suddenly, a man entered the house with the intention of theft. My dog ​​grabbed his leg and knocked him down. He was constantly hitting the dog on its head. He had a stick in one hand and a brick in the other. He was hitting my dog ​​with the brick repeatedly.

“When I saw this, I screamed for help. My maid came. The man attacked both of us. He hit me with a brick on my head and picked up a pot and hit me on the head with it. He was somehow out of our control. We were both screaming for help. No one from the neighbourhood came out. People were passing by and watching, but no one stopped to help us. I called the number 112 several times, but the call did not go through.

“Meanwhile, the man who was collecting the junk was coming from the front. He looked lean and aged. As soon as he saw him rush in, we both women had been overpowered by the thief. He was hitting us. The old man jumped straight on him without caring for his life. He caught him. The thief hit him on the head. The old man used common sense and scratched his face. His finger was also injured, and he was badly hurt. Despite this, he did not let go of him until others rushed in.

“After that, we all tied up the intruder and then sent him to the Izzat Nagar police station. This is an example. A Muslim man saved us. We saw with our own eyes the way he got involved with this man to save us, without caring for his own life. At that moment, I realised that the real name of religion and faith is humanity; People are misinterpreting religion in the wrong way to generate hatred.

"To conclude, I would like to say that in this era of hatred, keep sharing love. Bareilly is the city of the Ganga-Jamuni civilisation. There are plenty of examples of love here. This is the city of the great poet Wasim Barelvi. We should never let this civilisation deteriorate. Love should always flow. Bareilly should send a message of amity and coexistence to the world.”

Shalini later introduced Abdul to the public as she received calls from people, media, friends who wanted to know about her saviour in the following video:

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"I am currently making this video because I am getting phone calls from well-wishers, friends, acquaintances and media persons. Everyone wants to know what happened to Shalini, how it happened and what the whole incident was.

Abdul said he doesn't believe in differenntiating between a Muslim and a Hindu as all his clients are Hindus and nobody has ever treated him badly.