A police case has been filed and CCTV footage has been seized but attackers have yet to be identified
A 25-year-old man has alleged that he was attacked and then forced to say "Jai Shri Ram" while on his way home after offering namaz at a mosque in Gurgaon near Delhi.
Mohammed Barakat Alam, 25, said he was returning from evening prayers on Saturday when he was set upon by a gang of four to five people who knocked off his skullcap and ordered him to chant "Jai Shri Ram". He alleged that he was manhandled when he refused.
"I was returning from namaz when a man came up to me and told me I was not allowed to wear my cap. I refused to remove it but then he hit the back of my head and removed it and started cursing me," he told NDTV.
He alleged that he appealed for help but no one came forward. "Then they asked me to say "Jai Shri Ram". I said, 'why should I?' and then they started hitting me and tearing my kurta," he added.
He said the accused then escaped - one on foot and the rest on motorcycles.
A police case has been filed and CCTV footage of the incident has been seized. However, the accused are yet to be identified.
Mohammed Alam is from Begusarai in Bihar.
Last week, three people including a woman were attacked for allegedly carrying beef in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni. In a video of the attack, the woman is seen being hit with a slipper as she curls up and takes the blows in silence from an attacker who is heard yelling "Jai Shri Ram". The other two were were tied to a tree and thrashed.
The police said five men had been arrested in connection with the assault. One of the accused, Shubham Singh, who calls himself a member of "Ram Sena", posted the video on his Facebook account on May 23; he deleted it later.
In a photo he uploaded in April, he is seen standing next to BJP parliamentarian and Malegaon blasts accused Pragya Thakur and a group of men.