Lucknow: Three men were arrested in Baghpat for thrashing a 44-year-old cleric, son of a shahar qazi, and allegedly asking him to chant ‘religious slogans’.
Police on Thursday said the incident took place around 9.30 pm Monday when Hafiz Musiburrehman, son of Habiburrehman (65), was returning home after offering ‘namaz’ at a mosque. Three men on a motorcycle intercepted him and misbehaved with him.
“I’d not seen them earlier and it seems they targeted me due to my appearance. I was wearing a kurta-pyjama and a skull cap. They stopped me, pulled my beard, wrapped a saffron scarf around my neck and forced me to chant slogans,” said Hafiz.
He added: “One of them filmed the entire act on his mobile phone. They threatened to kill me if I reported the matter to the police. I was scared, ran home and didn’t tell anyone. My family sensed something wrong and I had to eventually tell them what had happened.”
The family reported the matter to police and a case was lodged.
ASP (Baghpat) Manish Kumar Mishra, said, “An FIR under IPC sections 153-B (imputations, assertions, prejudicial to national-integration), 342 (wrongful confinement), 505 and 506 (criminal intimidation) was registered against unidentified persons.”
He added: “Later, the accused, identified as Rahul Chauhan, Jitendra Sharma and Neeraj Kumar (aged 25-30 years), were arrested and sent to jail.
