Habib's hair styling with 'saliva' didn't work, got booked for spitting on woman

Muzaffarnagar: A police case has been filed against hairstylist Jawed Habib for spitting on a woman's head during a seminar in western Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar town earlier this week. The complaint has been filed by the woman on whose hair Habib spat during the workshop, the police said.

Following this, another video of the woman, Pooja Gupta, narrating the incident also went viral.

The woman explained her displeasure over the incident and said she would never get a haircut from Habib again.

The video was from a seminar conducted by the hairstylist on January 3.

In the video, Habib is heard telling the audience: "If there is a shortage of water, use saliva."

The FIR was lodged at Mansurpur police station in Muzaffarnagar on a complaint filed by Gupta.

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

After facing a barrage of criticism from netizens on social media and rap from the National Commission of Women (NCW), Habib had issued an apology statement through a video message, in which he said such things are often done with a "humourous" intent during workshops, but said that he was sincerely sorry if someone had felt hurt.

"Some words spoken by me during my seminar have hurt a few people," said the popular hairdresser in his video statement. "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."