Uttarakhand: ‘Reverse Love Jehad’ Case Spurs Communal Tension in Dehradun, Police Blinks

Dehradun: A case of ‘Reverse Love Jehad’ has led to heightened communal tension in Doon valley since Thursday night with members of the Right-wing Hindu groups affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh blocking the main Clock Tower (Ghantaghar) road in the city, seeking release of a Bajrang Dal leader who has been booked by the police for alleged communal violence and arson at Dehradun railway station. Later, the Bajrang Dal leader and his supporters were released under pressure from ruling party leaders.

Thousands of commuters, school going children, tourists and common people were stranded and suffered on the main road as members of some Hindu organisations, along with some shopkeepers of Paltan Bazaar, began a sit-in and blocked the road in support of their demands. All the shops in Paltan Bazaar and adjoining areas of Gandhi Road, Chakrata Road and Rajpur Road also remained closed.

The trouble started Thursday night when the Railway Police found a minor girl with a boy on the railway platform. On interrogation, it came to light that the minor Muslim girl from Baduan in Uttar Pradesh had eloped and reached Dehradun to meet her Hindu boyfriend. As the news spread, the self-proclaimed leaders of both the Hindu and Muslim communities reached the railway station.

Vikas Verma, a Bajrang Dal leader, who has been calling the shots in Uttarakhand and raising the pitch on any issue involving the minority community since the past several years, was aggressive and wanted that the girl should not be sent back to her parents. The Railway Police had found that the parents of the minor girl had lodged a police complaint with the Uttar Pradesh police regarding her disappearance.

Vikas Verma, Bajrang Dal  leader, was garlanded and taken around in procession after his release from police custody in Paltan Bazaar, Dehradun on Friday. 

The Bajrang Dal leaders reportedly insisted that since Dehradun was a ‘Devbhoomi’ (an abode of gods) and the girl had taken refuge and should not be sent back. This was objected to by the Muslim community members, who wanted the police to act as per law. This led to heated arguments and later a clash broke out between members of both communities.

Both the groups reportedly pelted stones at each other till a strong police force arrived and took control of the situation. It was alleged that some coaches of some stationed trains and some vehicles were damaged in the violence and arson. The police finally restored order and booked seven persons each from both the communities. Vikas Verma, the Bajrang Dal chief, was one of them.

Since Friday morning, members of Bajrang Dal and other Hindu Right- wing groups affiliated to BJP/RSS forced a closure of Paltan Bazaar, the main city market with their workers blocking the main road at Clock Tower. The protestors demanded the immediate release of Verma and the immediate removal of Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajai Singh alleging that he was “biased against the Hindu community leaders”.

The protestors who raised slogans against the police also chanted the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on the road. Senior ruling BJP leaders, including Dehradun Mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ and city BJP president Siddharath Umesh Aggarwal addressed the protestors and assured them that Vikas Verma would be freed soon.

Later, Aggarwal went to the Clement Town police station where Verma was detained and brought him back to Clock Tower. The city BJP president, on his Facebook page, reportedly shared a video in which he was seen holding the Bajrang Dal leader’s hand and bringing him out of the police station, with police officials seen pleading with him.

With the release of Verma, the dharna was lifted as Aggarwal wrote in his post that the Bajrang Dal chief had been brought back from the police station, terming it as a victory of ‘Sanatan forces’. The sheepish police officials told reporters that Verma had been given bail from the police station as the sections of the FIR lodged against them were bailable.

Thereafter, a victory procession with a heavily garlanded Vikas Verma, carried on the shoulders of his supporters was taken out in the Paltan Bazaar. Interestingly, it was Verma who had taken a lead in the massive police campaign of identification of “outsiders” following allegations by a girl that she was molested by a Muslim worker of a shoe shop owner in Paltan Bazaar. There was communal tension as Muslims had then alleged that Bajrang Dal workers, led by Verma, taking the law into their hands, had beaten up the alleged culprit and taken him to the police station.  Hundreds of “outsiders” who were involved in petty trades in the bazaar or were workers employed by shopkeepers were detained by police and taken to Police Lines for “identification”. This incident was billed as a “great success” by the Dehradun Police.

Meanwhile, Nayeem Quraishi, president of the Muslim Sewa Sangathan, said that all the seven persons from the Muslim side including, Etiat Khan, a councillor from Rita Mandi area of the city near the railway station, had also been released as a quid pro quo.         

The writer is a freelancer based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.