Canada: After hijab cutting story proves false, Muslim girl's family apologises

In an incident which shook the nation, an 11-year old girl had alleged that her hijab was torn by an attacker while she was on her way to school.

However, police found the allegations to be untrue.

Offering an apology, the family said: "We are deeply sorry for the pain and anger that our family has caused in the past several days."

"This has been a very painful experience for our family. We want to thank everyone who has shown us support at this difficult time. Again, we are deeply sorry for this and want to express our sincere apologies to every Canadian."

Denying the hijab cutting story to be true, Toronto Police Service spokesperson, Mark Pugash, told CTV News: "We had, as everyone knows, allegations of an extremely serious crime on Friday which we investigated -- we had a team of investigators who put together a significant amount of evidence and they came to the conclusion that the events that were alleged did not happen."

"We have spoken with (the girl), we have spoken to all the people the public would expect us to speak to in the course of a thorough investigation, and when we put all of that together -- we looked at it very closely -- and that was the conclusion that we came to.,” he added.

The investigation was started on Friday.

Khawlah Noman, who studies in the sixth grade, had alleged that the attack took place while she was on her way to school with younger brother.

A man allegedly tried to cut the girl's hijab twice.

Reacting to the attack, Noman said: "Sadly, someone insulted me by cutting my hijab two times."

"I felt really scared and confused because I didn't feel comfortable that people are doing this.," the girl was quoted by media.

Following the surface of the news, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even condemned the attack.

Trudeau tweeted: "My heart goes out to Khawlah Noman following this morning’s cowardly attack on her in Toronto. Canada is an open and welcoming country, and incidents like this cannot be tolerated."

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had earlier tweeted: "This is a cowardly act of hatred, and it has no place in Ontario. This does not represent who we are. We must stand firm in our support of this young girl who was assaulted simply for wearing a hijab. "

Hijab is a veil which Muslim women wear to cover their faces and chests in front of elderly people outside home.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)