“One of the men called me with an offensive word and told me that skullcap was not allowed in this area. When I told him that I was returning from a mosque, he slapped me. He also asked me to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Jai Shri Ram. When I refused, he threatened to feed me pork,” Mohammad Barkat said.

A Muslim man was beaten by a group of men at Jacubpura in Gurugram on May 25 night after he was told to remove his skullcap and chant Jai Shri Ram. No arrests have been made so far.

Mohammad Barkat, 25, was returning to his shop around 10 p.m. on Saturday after offering prayers at Jama Masjid in Gurugram when a group of about half a dozen men allegedly accosted him outside a sweet shop and told him to remove his skull cap. “One of the men called me with an offensive word and told me that skullcap was not allowed in this area. When I told him that I was returning from a mosque, he slapped me. He also asked me to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Jai Shri Ram. When I refused, he threatened to feed me pork,” Mr. Barkat said. He had come to Gurugram earlier this month to learn tailoring.

Mr. Barkat claimed that the man allegedly picked up a stick and hit him and also abused him.

When Mr. Barkat tried to push the man and run away, the man allegedly tore his shirt. As Mr. Barkat started crying, the men left. Four of them drove away in a motorcycle and two just walked away into one of the alleys in the area.

Mr. Barkat’s cousin Murtuja then took him to civil hospital. The hospital authorities made a call to the police.

A case has been registered on charges of promoting religious hatred, causing hurt, criminal intimidation and unlawful assembly, among others, at City Police Station in this connection.

Haryana BJP condemns incident

Haryana BJP spokesperson Raman Malik strongly condemned the incident saying that his party was against any kind of appeasement but any illegal act would not be tolerated. He said that he had spoken to the police in this connection and directed them to identify the persons involved at the earliest and take action against him as per the law.