An auto-rickshaw driver in Kanpur has alleged he was beaten up and locked inside a public toilet by three people for refusing to chant “Jai Shri Ram” on Wednesday night.

Mohammad Atib, allegedly hit in the head with a brick before being kicked and punched, was bleeding heavily when he staggered home, his family told reporters at their neighbourhood of Nai Basti in Babupurva.

He has been admitted to hospital with multiple gashes and bruises on his back, shoulder and head.

People from the locality hit the streets on Thursday, demanding immediate arrest of the accused. A huge police contingent has been stationed in the area to prevent any backlash.

“I met the family and promised action. There is peace in the area after initial anger,” senior superintendent of police Anant Dev said.

The accused — Sumit Singh, Rajesh Singh and Shiva Kumar of Khatikana Mohalla — are in hiding. They have been charged with promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, punishable with up to three years in jail, and other offences.

Officers quoted Atib as saying the accused had stopped him near Bakarganj crossing and asked him to drop them at Charrad crossing. When they reached the spot, they asked him to take them to Khatikana Mohalla.

“There, they asked me to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. When I refused, one of them picked up a brick and hit me in the head with it. They then dragged me inside a public toilet and kicked and punched me,” Atib told the police.

“Many people were watching but didn’t react. The attackers locked me in and left. Half an hour later, someone opened the door and I somehow made it home.”

Raveena Tyagi, south Kanpur superintendent of police, told reporters the initial inquiry suggested the accused and Atib — all of them aged 25 to 30 — had been drinking together before a quarrel broke out over some issue.

“It’s wrong of anybody to ask him (Atib) to chant the slogan. An inquiry is on,” she said.

On June 28 afternoon, four men had allegedly thrashed a 16-year-old Muslim boy in a busy Kanpur market for wearing a skullcap and refusing to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. No one has been arrested so far.

On June 20, H.M. Shahrukh Halder, 23, a madarsa teacher in Bengal, was beaten up on a Sealdah-bound train for wearing a skullcap and allegedly refusing to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. He was later pushed out of the train.

Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old welder, died on June 22 four days after being beaten by a mob in Jharkhand amid suggestions he had been asked to chant Hindu religious slogans.