In Gurugram, Two Men Thrashed And Shaved Muslim Man’s Beard, Called Him ‘Pakistani’

The men overpowered the Muslim man, who had tried to run, and made the barber shave his beard at knifepoint

By: News Desk |
August 3, 2018 2:52 pm

A Muslim man who had apparently stepped out to buy vegetables for his restaurant in Gurugram was reportedly labelled as a ‘Pakistani’, thrashed and was later forced to shave his beard by two men. Playing down the incident, Police claimed that it was an “isolated case”.

The Hindu reported that the accused, Gaurav (alias Teda) and Nitin, asked Jafruddin Hamid to cut off his beard while they were all inside a barber’s shop. Hamid, a resident of Mewat’s Badli village and the owner of a roadside eatery in Sector 29, had gone into the saloon for a haircut around 6 pm on July 31. The two men entered the shop soon after and demanded to be attended first.

The man had just gone to the saloon for a haircut. Credit: ANI

The Times of India reported that the accused asked Hamid to shave off his beard, but the man refused to do so citing religious reasons. When Hamid refused to budge, the duo started thrashing him and then allegedly overpowered him. “They tied my hands and forced the barber to shave off my beard. When the barber refused, they thrashed him as well and forced him to do it at knifepoint,” Hamid said.

The incident terrified Hamid who filed a complaint against the men on Wednesday night, after which three people were arrested. The accused have priors as they had picked up a fight with people in a locality in Khandsa last year.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Gurugram (Crime) Sumit Kuhar told ANI: “Three persons including the barber have been arrested by the police on the incident that happened on July 31. This is an isolated incident and no organization is involved in it.”

In May this year, several Hindu right-wing groups had stopped Muslims from offerring Friday namaz at a public park in Gurugram. The prayers were allowed only at 23 “designated” spots.