42-year-old Mohamed Saleem never dreamt in his life that the police would subject him to interrogation only because he was wearing a cap, had a bear and was standing outside the Income Tax office adjoining the Israeli Consulate.
According to Mirror, the incident took place on Monday. Mohammed Saleem, a resident of Sankli street, has never shaved in his 42 years, but trims his beard regularly. But even his trimmed beard was enough to earn him a rebuke from the Marine Drive police on Monday.
From 4.05 pm to 9.45 pm Saleem tried to convince the police of his identity. Even after looking at all the documents produced by him driving licence, motorbike insurance papers, PAN card, the police made Saleem take them to his neighbours in Sankli Street to double check.
Only then were they satisfied that he was in fact what he claimed to be just an ordinary Muslim working in Mumbai, who had happened to be in the vicinity of the Israeli consulate,because the consulate was next to the Income Tax office where he had gone to deliver some papers.
So, after having to undergo six hours of fear, humiliation and anger I want an apology from those policemen, says Saleem will he shave off his beard and discard his cap .
Why does he wear a cap all the time anyway? Because I need it for namaz. Saleem is a five-times-a-day namazi.
I would feel more under threat without my beard, says Saleem. With it, I feel Allah is close to me. I consider it my religious duty to keep a beard. Prophet Mohammed had one; so did his successors. Saleem's father and grandfather kept beards too. So will his son, he hopes.
Mondays incident wherein, according to Saleem, the Israeli consulate security guards and the plainclothes policemen on duty outside the consulate stopped him and accused him of taking photographs of the consulate on his mobile, a white-skinned employee from the consulate came down and hurled some four-letter words, after which the police took him to the Marine Drive Police Station was not the first time.
Saleems beard and cap has proved troublesome for him. It's not uncommon for him to be stopped by policemen at railway stations and asked to open his bag.
His appearance does make life difficult for him,admits Saleem.
Surprisingly, this appearance didn't come in the way of him getting a job with a Hindu Gujarati, K M Shah, and retaining it for three years.
Shah has stood by his Malegaon-born, Bhiwandi-educated Muslim employee, a diploma holder in Construction Technology, even after Mondays incident.
Currently in Breach Candy Hospital, Shah has told Saleem he will take up the matter with the police commissioner.
Saleem's parents, wife, four kids, divorced sister and her child live in Malegaon and depend on his earnings.
On Wednesday, a delegation of Muslims, along with Saleem, met Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal. The Commissioner asked Saleem to give him a written representation, but made it clear that the cops had simply done their job. The Israeli consulate had called the police because they were suspicious of Saleem, and police were duty-bound to make the required investigations, the commissioner told the delegation.
It was the way this investigation was carried out, the remarks about Saleems beard, that the CP said he found objectionable. Nobody should be profiled, he said. “Our job is to make the minorities feel safe. The police were only a part of society, which as a whole needed to be sensitized”, he said.
Saleem recounted that the police switched off his mobile and he was allowed to call only his boss. The CP did not find that a violation of Saleems rights since Saleem was not then officially under arrest.
The CP told the delegation that they were free to complain to the Ministry of External Affairs if they felt aggrieved by the conduct of the Israeli consulate.
