MP MUSLIM MAN FORCED TO CHANT ‘JAI SHRI RAM’: COPS

BHOPAL: Two people were arrested for allegedly assaulting a Muslim man and forcing him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, police said on Sunday.

According to the complainant Abdul Rashid, who works as a ragman, the assault took place on Saturday when he was looking to collect scrap items in the district’s Mahidpur area.

“I went to Sekli village to collect rags when the accused came to me and said how dare you enter the village. They started pushing and abusing me. I requested them to allow me to leave but they started forcing me to chant Jai Shri Ram,” he said. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. HT could not independently verify the video’s authenticity.

Police said that acting on Rashid’s complaint, they arrested the accused Ishwar Singh, 27, and Kamal Singh, 22. The two were booked under IPC Sections 153-A, 505 (2), 323, police said.

“Social media is fueling these incidents. We have also issued a warning in the district that if anybody posts anything to promote enmity between two communities then that person will be arrested,” Ujjain superintendent of police Satendra Shukla said.

The incident comes against the backdrop of a spate of communal incidents in the state. On August 23, police held 2 people for allegedly thrashing a Muslim bangle seller in Indore and later booked him for allegedly touching a teenager inappropriately. MP home minister Narottam Mishra said Taslim Ali was using a fake identity and passing himself off as Hindu. Four days later, a Muslim hawker was allegedly beaten up by two men in Dewas after he failed to produce an Aadhaar card.