Imam beaten and his beard cut off in Maharashtra's Jalna

The deputy Superintendent of police in Jalna district of Maharashtra has received a complaint that an Imam from Anwa village was attacked by unidentified individuals who entered his place of worship and beat him up. According to the report the incident took place on Sunday at around 7.30 pm when Imam Zakir Sayyad Khaja was sitting inside the mosque reading the Quran. The mob allegedly asked the Imam to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'; after his refusal they allegedly attacked him with a sharp object identified as a blade.

According to the report unidentified  individuals entered the mosque with a cloth over their faces and forced the Imam to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' while he was reading the Quran. When the Imam refused to do as he was told, three individuals took him outside the mosque and beat him up. The Imam said his attackers used a chemical-laced cloth to make him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he realized that his beard had been cut off.

A case has been registered against the unidentified individuals who have been booked under Sections 452 (trespassing after preparation for hurt, assault), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (criminal act by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The neighbouring people rushed Imam Khaja to the hospital after he was found  lying outside the mosque in an unconscious state. They rushed him to a government hospital in Sillod. Later, he was taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Aurangabad, where he is currently undergoing treatment.

The complainant Riyaz Shah has requested police to take strict action against the unidentified individuals and has also requested to deploy police so as the communal harmony is maintained in the village, Anwa.

Amidst the prevailing tensions over the incident, Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi took to Twitter and has asked the state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis take strict action against the attackers.

As the incident became public, the cops arrived at the village and started probing the case.