Decorated Indian Army Veteran Brutally Assaulted by Mob Over Phone Conversation on Waqf Bill – Calls Grow for Justice and Accountability
Lucknow, 6 April 2025:
In a shocking and deeply disturbing incident, Colonel Surya Prakash Singh (Retired)—a highly respected and well regarded veteran who is currently serving as the Zila Sainik Kalyan Adhikari, Kanpur—was brutally assaulted by a group of men in a premeditated, communally motivated attack in intervening night of 5th and 6th April 2025, while returning from an official event in Kanpur.
Col Surya Prakash Singh, 59, had just attended a Civil-Military Liaison function at the Station Officer’s Mess, Kanpur, and left for Lucknow in a private cab around 2245 hrs. During the journey, he was on a private phone call with a colleague, discussing the ongoing Waqf Bill—a topic of public and legislative discourse. The cab driver, agitated by the discussion, began verbally abusing the officer and secretly alerted a WhatsApp group, summoning 6-7 men from his community to carry out a coordinated assault.
The ambush took place in an area under Achal Ganj Police Station jurisdiction. The vehicle was stopped, and Col Surya Prakash Singh was violently attacked with blunt objects, sustaining serious head and body injuries. Despite being outnumbered, Col Surya Prakash Singh bravely resisted until he was pinned to the ground and rendered unconscious. His clothes were torn in the scuffle.
Before the incident escalated, Col Surya Prakash Singh had managed to alert his colleagues, who arrived on scene in approximately 20–25 minutes.
The officer was later taken to the police station and then escorted to the Zila Sainik Board, Kanpur, where he changed into fresh clothes. He finally reached his Lucknow residence at 0740 hrs on 6 April 2025—bruised, shaken, and traumatised, but not physically. It dawned upon him that the last thing he expected was to have his own countrymen attack him. Col Surya Prakash Singh has always had the utmost faith in his country’s democratic and secular ideals and has upheld them as well as fought for them all his life. So, this assault is also an assault on his beliefs.
While medical attention was provided, official medical reports are still awaited, and it remains unclear whether an FIR has even been registered.
This is a grave attack not only on Col Surya Prakash Singh, but on the dignity of every armed forces veteran who has served this country with honour. Col Surya Prakash Singh has spent his career in the most hostile and insurgency-affected zones in the Kashmir and North East and is widely respected in military and civil circles alike for his tolerant, inclusive, and accommodating nature.
The assault over a mere discussion on a parliamentary bill points to a dangerous rise in intolerance and silencing through violence. The fact that an armed forces veteran can be attacked in his own country over his views is an indictment of our civic safety and social harmony.
This case must not fade from the public eye and we as a nation must stand for him like he stood for us.