The Railway Police on Sunday ordered an investigation after a video showed four Muslim men offering namaz in the aisle of a sleeper coach, reported PTI.

The video, shared by former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar Deeplal Bharati, was reportedly captured on the Satyagrah Express when the train had stopped at Khadda railway station on October 20, according to NDTV.

“I made the video,” Bharati told India Today. “They offered namaz in a sleeper coach. It caused inconvenience as other passengers were not able to enter or exit the train. How can they offer namaz in public places? It was wrong.”

Although no first information report has been filed yet, Railway police officials have said that they will investigate the incident.

“We are looking into the matter and if passengers faced any kind of problem during their journey,” Superintendent Police of Government Railway Police Awdhesh Singh told PTI. “First Information Report will be lodged immediately in case we get a written complaint regarding the issue.”

In the past few months, there have been a number of instances of Muslims getting penalised for praying in public.

In July, Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a first information report after a video showed some men offering namaz at Lucknow’s Lulu mall.

The police had arrested seven persons in the case. The family of those arrested claimed that they had asked for permission to pray. However, the mall’s administration said that it does not allow any religious worship in its premises.

In the same month, eight people were arrested in Haridwar for offering namaz publicly. They were granted bail a few hours later.

In June, a professor in Aligarh was sent on a month’s leave after he read the namaz on the lawns of his college. The college set up an inquiry against the professor and the police also started an investigation. In May, four tourists were arrested for offering namaz in a mosque situated inside the Taj Mahal.

However, several legal experts have told Scroll.in that arresting people for offering namaz in public was an act not backed by Indian law.