The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested five men for allegedly assaulting three Madrassa students for refusing to say "jai mata di". The students had claimed earlier that they were assaulted by a group of men at a park in Delhi’s Begampur area. They also said that the men had asked them to chant religious, patriotic slogans while beating them up, reported NDTV. One of the students, 18-year-old Mohammad Dilkash, has a broken arm from the assault, which took place on Saturday evening.

Dilkash had said, "We don't know them, but we can recognise them. They asked us to say "jai mata di" and "jai bharat", or they would kill us." He added that the men did not even give them a chance to oblige to their demand. The students reportedly told the police they were beaten up with sticks.

However, the arrested men – all in their 20s – denied the allegations, saying they were playing cricket in the park when the ball hit one of the students, who then used abusive language which led to a scuffle, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Vikramjit Singh said. "The culprits accepted that they beat up the madrassa students and attacked one of them with a bat. But they denied forcing the victims to say 'jai mata di'", he added.

The police said the two groups are from the same neighbourhood and they knew each other, adding that they were playing cricket when the fight started. The police also said there were inconsistencies in the statements of the students. In their complaint, the students had initially said that they were asked to chant "Jai mata di", but later changed their version and claimed that they were asked to shout"Bharat mata ki Jai", the police said, adding that they had registered a case and were verifying the allegations.