Man harassed on suspicion of carrying bag made from cowhide, FIR lodged

The Mumbai Police today registered a case of criminal intimidation against unidentified persons who allegedly questioned a 24-year-old man in a menacing way on suspicion that his bag was made from cow skin.

The incident had happened on Friday with Barun Kashyap, who hails from Assam and works as creative director with a private firm, in suburban Andheri.

Kashyap wrote about it in a Facebook post, following which the police initially lodged a non-cognisable offence.

"With a permission from the magistrate's court, we today registered an FIR against a group of men who allegedly accosted Kashyap," a senior official said.

The FIR was lodged under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Further probe was underway, the official said.

According to Kashyap, when he was travelling to his workplace in an auto-rickshaw, the driver became curious about his identity.

At a traffic signal, the driver started looking at Kashyap's leather bag and concluded after touching it that it was made from cowhide.

Kashyap told him it was made from camel leather and bought from Pushkar. But the he was not satisfied.

The driver then stopped the vehicle near a temple and signalled three men sitting there. They asked Kashyap to step out, which he refused. One of them examined his bag.

"One of them asked my full name. He looked at the other two and said something in Marathi...I could only understand the word 'Brahmin'. May be hearing Kashyap, they thought I am a Brahmin and left the spot," he said.

Kashyap also noted the vehicle's registration number and asked the driver for his phone number before getting down at the next traffic signal.