Auto driver was forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram', but motive unrelated: FIR

Bengaluru: The auto driver assaulted by a group of men in RK Hegde Nagar on June 22 was asked to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, but that was not the actual trigger for the incident, according to the FIR. 

Waseem Ahmed, 28, had claimed in a video that he was attacked after he refused to chant the slogan that has become a rallying cry for the Hindu right-wing. 

A senior police officer dismissed his claims, noting that his complaint didn’t mention the slogan, nor did two eyewitnesss report anything along those lines. 

However, the FIR does specify that Ahmed was almost coerced into chanting the slogan. 

Ahmed and his friend, Mohammed Zameer, a mechanic, were travelling in the auto to Chokkanahalli. Around 5.30 pm, they stopped by a vacant land near Sampigehalli to relieve themselves. 

At least six men present asked what they were doing there. Ahmed rebuffed them, asking them to mind their own business. His retort angered the group, which attacked him with sticks. His friend managed to flee. 

Ahmed suffered injuries, including reduced hearing in his right ear, according to a doctor who treated him. 

"Unable to bear the pain, Ahmed screamed ‘Allah’. The mob then asked him to say ‘Jai Shri Ram'," the FIR read, as per Zameer's statement. 

Based on the complaint, the Sampigehalli police registered an FIR under BNS sections related to voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.