By IRAM SIDDIQUE / The Print
Bhopal: A 32-year-old book vendor in Ujjain was Sunday beaten up by a group of women affiliated to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) who accused him of misbehaving with women customers.
The man — Virak Saleem, who works with the Ahmadiya Muslim community — was subsequently booked for alleged molestation on the complaint of a 23-year-old woman at the book fair where he’d put up a stall.
However, Saleem told local media that he was only writing down phone numbers of customers who had asked for certain books that weren’t available with him at the time, to intimate them about their availability.
Ujjain Superintendent of Police (SP) Sachin Sharma said they had registered an FIR under Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the IPC based on the 23-year-old woman’s complaint. Saleem was arrested but given bail while the matter is being investigated, he added.
“The case registered in the police station was that of misbehaving with a woman, based on the woman’s complaint,” he said. “As per the FIR, it has nothing to do with the man’s religion. A case was registered and necessary action was taken, the matter is under investigation,” Sharma told ThePrint.
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