Muslim Woman Assaulted, Headscarf Pulled Off For Being With Hindu Colleague; UP Police Arrests Six In Muzaffarnagar

A Muslim woman was assaulted by a group of men, predominantly Muslim, and her headscarf was pulled off, for being accompanied by a Hindu man in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar on Saturday (12 April). The police arrested six accused on Monday, Indian Express reported.

After a video of the incident surfaced on social media and the victims filed a complaint, the police arrested the accused, identified as Sartaj, Shadab, Mohammad Umar, Arsh, Shoaib and Shami, all residents of Muzzaffarnagar.

"A woman from Khalapar area in Muzaffarnagar and a man from Shamli were returning after collecting money from Sujru village in Muzaffarnagar. At Khalapar, a group of locals stopped them outside a battery shop and assaulted them,” Muzzaffarnagar Circle Officer Raju Kumar Sab was quoted as saying.

The woman’s mother works at a micro-finance company and she had gone to a residential neighbourhood to collect payments for the same. The incident happened during this collection process as she was accompanied by her mother's colleague, who is from another religion.

“My mother sent me with her colleague Sachin Kumar to collect payments from Sujru village. When we reached Darji wali gali, around eight to 10 men surrounded us and started to abuse us. They pulled my headscarf and started making videos… they threatened to make the video viral,” she said.

In the video, the men can be seen pulling the woman's headscarf as she screams while trying to walk away. The police has assured that the remaining accused would be arrested soon.

The First Information Report (FIR) was registered on the day of incident under sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of public peace), 191(2) (rioting) and 74 (assault to outrage modesty of woman) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS).