Tamil Nadu: Juvenile, 6 others arrested for forcing woman to remove Hijab at Vellore Fort

Chennai: A juvenile and six others were arrested by police on Thursday for forcing a woman to remove her hijab (headscarf) inside the 16th century Vellore Fort Complex a couple of days ago, the video of which went viral in the social media.

While the juvenile was 17 years, old, all the other six arrested were in the 20-22 age group.

Police said the woman and her friend visited the Fort on March 27 for sight seeing when a group of people stopped them and asked her to remove her hijab.

One of the persons in the group filmed it in his mobile and posted in the social media platforms, which went viral.

Those arrested were S.Imran Pasha, K.Santhosh, Ibrahim Basha, C.Prasanth, Ashraf Basha, and Mohammed Faizal.

While the six arrested--most of them are autorickshaw drivers in the area--were remanded in judicial custody on Thursday, the juvenile was sent to the government home.

Police have also seized the mobile phones of the arrested people and sent them to the cyber crime wing for analysis.

On a complaint filed by the North Vellore Town Village Administrative Officer, cases were registered at the North Vellore Town police station located opposite to the Fort complex, last evening against the arrested on charges of intentional insults and indulging in wanton vilification.

Subsequently, five special police teams were formed. They arrested all the seven people on charges of endangering public safety, threat to personal freedom, intention to create enmity between two sections of people and acting against the modesty of women.

Police also warned of stringent action under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and under the Information Technology (IT) Act against those sharing the video of the incident on social media. (UNI)