I for one miss Rage Boy, he was a non-stop source of comedy gold.
He is America’s hated poster-boy of Islam. He is the angry face of separatism in Kashmir. He is the “vigorous organizer of protests” on the streets of Srinagar. Thirty-one-year-old Shakeel Ahmad Bhat, tagged as the ‘Islamic rage boy’ in the West, has again been slapped with Public Safety Act, 9th time in a row since November 2008 when he was arrested in old city Srinagar, in the aftermath of Amarnath Land agitation.
The bony cheeked and unkemptly bearded, Shakeel shot to infamy in 2007 after his ‘jaw-drooping, crooked teeth, closed-fist, eye-bulged-out’ pictures were carried by many international media outlets during a protest in Srinagar. He was quickly dubbed as ‘Islamic Rage boy’ and ‘Poster boy’. Soon his pictures made it to spoof cover of Time magazine, on T-Shirts, posters, mouse-pads, boxer shorts, bumper stickers and beer mugs.
As Police slapped 9th PSA(the act allows police to jail a person for a maximum of two years without trial) against him this week, Hindustan Times team traveled to his home in the shabby Fateh Kadal area of old city to know his story.
Few of IRB’s greatest hits:
