Six persons who forced a woman to remove her hijab and videographed it when she was visiting the historic Vellore Fort in Vellore earlier this week were arrested by the North Police on Thursday, a senior police🅰 official said.
A 17-year-old among the gang that coerced the unwilling woman to remove her hijab was sent to the government home, while the police arrested and remanded the♛ others, Imran Basha, 22, Ashraf Basha, 20, Mohammed Faizal, 23, Santhosh, 23, Ibrahim Basha, 24, and Prasanಌth, 20.
"The youths were mostly aut꧙orickshaw drivers and they had targeted at least three hijab-wearing women who were visiting the fort," the official said.
Refusing to reveal further details, Vellore District Superintendent of Police S Rajesh Kannan said the 🃏motive behind the offence that took place on March 27 was being investigated. "The public is requested not to share the videos posted on social mediಞa," he said.
In the video that went viral, the perpetrators are💯 heard asking the woman's friend whether it was fair on his part to take a hijab-clad woman on an outing.
Foll🐟owing the incident, police presence at the 16th-century fort has been strengthened and the Superintendent of Police has set up an assistance booth for visitors to the monument.
"This police assistance booth wil𒐪l be made permanent. Phone numbers of police officials will be prominently displayed at the booth for the benefit of the public, to contact in case of any emergency," Kanna🅰n said, speaking to reporters.
Additional police personnel has been deployed at the fort to prevent any untoward incidents and to ensure the safety of tou༺♛rists, he added.
Aske♒d about the motive behind the incident, Kannan said, "It will be known during the investigation and will be mentioned🐼 in the charge sheet."
