22-year-old Jaffruddin initially ignored the religious insults, but later got into an argument. The accused then beat him, took him to a salon and forcibly shaved his beard.
Image: Yogendra Kumar/ Hindustan Times
Haryana: 22-year-old Jaffrudin Hamid had a usual day. He worked at his dhaba near IFFCO chowk, Gurugram and on July 31, stepped out with his cook Ibrahim to buy vegetables in Khandsa Mandi. He decided to get a haircut and that’s when things turned ugly.
“I wanted to get my hair cut. So, we went to a roadside salon near the mandi. Two people were already inside the shop and were getting their beards and hair cut. One of the miscreants, after getting his shave asked me to cut my beard. When I refused saying that it was a religious practice, they started abusing me. They held both my hands and forced the barber to shave off my beard. Though the barber initially refused, they threatened him and assaulted me multiple times,” Jafruddin said in a report by Hindustan Times.
He was branded a ‘Pakistani’ by the perpetrators and assaulted with death threats made to him and the barber. A video of the incident was also circulated on social media.
“Jaffruddin initially ignored the religious insults, but later got into an argument. Then the accused started thrashing Jaffruddin. They took him to a salon and chopped his beard off,” Gurgaon Police public relations officer Subhash Bokan told PTI.
“They said I was from Pakistan since I had refused to get my beard shaved off. The two men then tied me up to the chair with a scarf and threatened to kill me,” said Jafruddin in a report by The Hindu.
Three assailants have been arrested and identified as Gaurav alias Tedha, Nitin Kumar and Ikhlash, a barber.
“I was frightened after the incident as they threatened to kill me if I was seen in the area again. I got upset and left for my village. On Wednesday, I narrated my ordeal to my family members and they discussed the matter with the village panchayat after which we called the Gurugram police and reported the matter,” Jafrudden said in the report by HT.
Jafruddin lodged a complaint with the police late Wednesday night following which a case was registered under sections 295A (hurting religious sentiment), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intention)and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The report also added that Sumit Kuhar, DCP (Crime) said, “The incident took place on Tuesday evening and we received a complaint a day after. We also received a video of the incident. We formed teams and identified the miscreants within two hours. The team of Sector 37 police arrested the accused from Khandsa.”
Gurgaon Police told the news agency ANI that the three accused have denied the involvement of any organisation behind the attack. “Three people including the barber have been arrested and will be produced before the court today. This is an isolated incident and no organisation is involved in it,” Kuhar told ANI.