Seven held for forcing woman to remove hijab in TN

The Tamil Nadu Police arrested seven persons including a juvenile for allegedly forcing a woman to remove her hijab at the Vellore Fort Complex in Tamil Nadu.

S. Rajesh Kannan, Superintendent of Police, Vellore told IANS that the seven people are arrested for intentional insult and wanton vilification.

He said that the arrested persons acted against individual freedom. The arrested are K. Santosh (23), Imran Pasha (24), Mohammed Faisal (21), Ibrahim Basha (24), Mohammed Faisal (23) and C. Prasanth (23). The arrested juvenile has been sent to a childcare home. Police said that most of those arrested are local auto-rickshaw drivers.

According to police, the incident happened on March 27 at noon when the woman wearing a hijab reached the fort along with a friend. The arrested men also reached there and asked her to remove her hijab. One of them shot the incident on their phone and uploaded it to social media platforms, which went viral.

A case was filed by the North Police of Vellore on a complaint given by the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) on Wednesday. Police constituted five special teams and nabbed the culprits on Thursday. The seven were arrested on charges of endangering public safety, threat to personal freedom, intention to create enmity between two sections of people and also acting against the modesty of women.

Police have directed people not to share the video clipping on social media platforms. Those indulging in the same would be charged under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act and Information Technology (IT) Act.

Vellore Superintendent of Police said that further investigations are on.