FIR filed against Jawed Habib for spitting on woman's hair

An FIR has been registered against hairstylist Jawed Habib after a video went viral showing him spitting on a woman's head while giving her a haircut. The FIR was lodged at Mansurpur police station in Muzaffarnagar on a complaint filed by the woman.

Habib has been booked under Section 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person, otherwise than on grave provocation) of the Indian Penal Code and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the police said.

The hairstylist has apologised for the incident in a video on his Instagram account. His act is being viewed as a disgrace to hair care professionals across the industry. The incident occurred during a workshop being conducted by Habib in UP's Muzaffarnagar.

Habib, during the workshop, reportedly said that if there is no water available then one can use saliva and then goes on to spit on the woman's head. Expectedly, he has come in for sharp criticism and being called out for being unhygienic and puke-worthy.

The woman Pooja Gupta, who owns a salon, later recounted the experience in yet another video shared on social media. She makes her displeasure clearly known, "Yesterday, I attended a seminar of Jawed Habib. He invited me on stage for a haircut and misbehaved with me. He showed that if there is no water available, you can use saliva. From now onwards, I will go to my street-side barber for a haircut, but will not go to Habib ever."

National Commission for Women takes serious note

With the matter being brought to the notice of the authorities, the National Commission for Women has asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to probe on the matter and find out the veracity of the video.

In a post, on its official Twitter handle, the women's commission said, "@NCWIndia has taken cognizance of the incident. Chairperson@sharmarekha has written to @dgpup to immediately investigate the veracity of the viral video and take appropriate action. The action taken must be appraised to the Commission at the earliest."

Meanwhile, Habib apologises

Responding to strong and sharp criticism from all quarters for his act, Habib apologised via a video message. "Some words spoken by me during the seminar have hurt a few people. I just want to say one thing, these are professional workshops, as in, they are attended by people from within our profession. When these sessions get very long, we have to make them humorous. What can I say? If you are truly hurt, I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Please forgive me, I'm sorry."

Who is Jawed Habib?

More importantly, why did he spit on her hair? The memes took over social media, wherein all those who had got their hair personally done by the stylist wondered if they were spat upon too. The celebrity hairstylist, apart from owning a chain of hair care and beauty salons and a training academy, has political aspirations as well. In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he joined BJP.

In a conference, addressing media persons, Habib said at the time, "Aaj tak main baalon ka chowkidar tha, aaj mein desh ka chowkidar ban gaya hoon." However, his political career is yet to take off and looks like, it'll be a while before anyone trusts him with their head or hair again.