Three Assam-based Muslim men, one of them in the Army Medical Corps (AMC), have written to the Taj Group of Hotels accusing their four-star establishment in Guwahati of racial profiling and harassment.
Imran Hussain Laskar, Sahab Uddin and Zahid Islam Barbhuiyan had checked in to Taj Vivanta on Friday after missing a flight to Delhi because the train from Silchar town had run late.
The trio is from Barak Valley in southern Assam. While Mr. Laskar is a non-commissioned officer and working as a dental hygienist in the AMC in Imphal, Manipur, Mr. Uddin owns a college in Badarpur town, near Silchar, and Mr. Barbhuiyan is a teacher.
“Nothing happened when we checked in to room 226 at about 2 p.m. after paying upfront, including ₹2,000 for an extra bed. We went out and returned at 4 p.m. to find the hotel was full of security men,” Mr. Barbhuiyan told The Hindu .
Under watch
They noticed the police and the hotel’s security men watching and following them within the hotel. About 5 p.m., they came down to the reception to ask why the extra bed had not been provided.
“The receptionists began misbehaving, so were others at the swimming pool and the lobby. A VIP programme was on, and when we went near a media team, the hotel’s chief executive officer called us to his room,” Mr. Barbhuiyan said. The CEO allegedly threatened to send them to prison. The police and Special Branch officials were called in to question them.
“Laskar tried to record the harassment, but his mobile was snatched. They checked his mobile and found an old video of Asaduddin Owaisi and surmised he was a radical. They confiscated Laskar’s identity card, detained him and sent us to our room,” Mr. Barbhuiyan said.
Satisfied that they were not extremists, the police left around midnight after thanking them for their cooperation.
The hotel authorities declined to counter the charges.
“We have nothing to say as of now,” spokesperson Indranee Phukan said.
The trio said they would lodge a complaint with a consumer court and discuss with their lawyers the next course of action.
