In an appalling incident, a group of youngsters had allegedly forced a Muslim cleric to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and also thrashed him by pulling his beard and removing his cap in Doghat area of UP’s Baghpat district on Saturday evening.
An FIR was filed by the cleric and the police have registered a case against 12 unknown youths in Doghat police station. The victim Imlakur Rehman is a resident of village Jaula in Muzaffarnagar.
The police, however, said that the case appears to be a case of assault as the when the victim first approached the police station he didn’t mention anything religious in the complaint but later he did mention about it.
The victim is a teacher in a madrasa. In his complaint, he has accused 10 to 12 youngsters of stopping him on Meerut-Karnal highway on Saturday evening. He has alleged that the youth told him “Bharat me rehna hai toh Jai Shri Ram kahna Hoga.”
He also alleged that when he resisted they pulled his beard and removed his cap and thrashed him but he was saved by some passers-by. His FIR also alleged that the youngsters before leaving from the spot also told him to cut his beard otherwise they will not let him pass from the road next time.
Assistant Police of Baghpat said that at least 4 of the accused have been identified and efforts are on to arrest them. The case has been registered under IPC section 147, 341, 295-A, 323, 504 and 506. Most of the sections are related to rioting, criminal intimidation but only section 295-A says “deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.”
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