Three persons were arrested in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district for allegedly assaulting a man after he refused to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

The police filed a first information report on Saturday based on a complaint by Rizwan Ahmad, a resident of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Ahmad said that the incident took place on Friday evening near Dungripanth.

In his complaint, Ahmad said that he had gone to a tea shop where three men were under the influence of alcohol.

“One of them, named Mukesh Bhatt, asked me to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying in his complaint.

When he refused, Ahmad alleged, Bhatt and his two companions abused and assaulted him.

“They caught hold of my beard, pulled it violently, and shouted: ‘Cut this man’s beard.’ They also made a video of this assault,” Ahmad added. “I was forced to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’.”

A video of the incident has been circulated widely on social media.

Ahmad said he managed to escape through the back of the shop.

He also alleged that the three men had threatened another resident of Saharanpur the same day, attempting to force him to chant the slogan.

Apart from Bhatt, the accused were identified as Naveen Bhandari and Manish Bisht.

The FIR was filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to voluntarily causing hurt, promoting enmity on religious grounds, outraging religious feelings, criminal intimidation and intentional insult to provoke a breach of peace at the Srinagar Police Station in Pauri, The Indian Express reported.

An unidentified official also told the newspaper that all three men were arrested for “assaulting and misbehaving” with Ahmad.

They were later produced before a court, the official added.

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