Uttarakhand: Violence Against Muslims Continues Unabated, This Time in Tehri’s Kirtinagar

Dehradun: The targeting of the minority Muslim community in the hills of Uttarakhand continuous unabated, with shops owned by Muslims ransacked by a Hindutva mob at the Kiritnagar market in Tehri Garhwal district on the alleged charges of conversion and ‘love jehad’ on Tuesday. The mob, raising anti-Muslim slogans, reportedly attacked shops owned by Muslims, including the one owned by Salman, who has been missing for some time.

The immediate provocation for these mobs, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) JP leader Lakhpat Bhandari, was the disappearance of a young girl from her village on Monday night. It was alleged that the Muslim boy and the girl had an affair. The Kirtinagar Police have registered a case under Section 137 (2) of BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) and POCSO Act relating to kidnapping following the girl’s disappearance.

J.R. Joshi, Additional Superintendent of Police, Tehri Garhwal, told reporters that the police had received information about the girl’s disappearance after which separate teams were formed to trace her. A case has been registered in this connection.

Read Also: Uttarakhand: Now, Open Call for Economic Boycott, Violence Against Muslims

Earlier, the family members of the girl had registered a complaint against the Muslim youth for allegedly converting their daughter. The boy is said to have been missing after the complaint was lodged. Reports said the Hindutva group went to the Kirtinagar police station and gave an ultimatum to the police to recover the girl or face violent protest. The group was led by Bhandari, a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Srinagar Garhwal, who has been leading the anti-Muslim charge in the area.

Bhandari was allegedly involved in targeting Muslim families of Chauras in Kirtinagar block of Tehri Garhwal district in the last week of July. The families who had been living there for the past three decades had to flee. Those Muslims alleged that they were forced to sign papers that they were quitting their shops and homes on their own.

Early this month, Bhandari held a rally at Srinagar Garhwal where he delivered hate speeches and called for an economic boycott of the Muslims in the Uttarakhand hills. Interestingly, despite his hate speech going viral on social media no action was taken against him by the police.

The Kirtinagar incident on Tuesday is part of a series of  such incidents in which the minority Muslim community living in the towns and cities of Uttarakhand have been targeted on one pretext or another.

The incident comes close on the heels of the Uttarkashi incident on October 24, where police had to resort to lathi-charge following violence and stone-pelting by members of the Hindu Right wing organisations leading to injuries to many during their ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rally against a mosque. The Hindutva groups had launched a campaign seeking demolition of the mosque in Uttarkashi town which they claim was illegal and situated on government land.

The Uttarkashi district administration and police had clarified that the mosque in question was an old one which was not built on any government land and had been registered with the Wakf board since the 1980s. The Uttarkashi police and administration had made elaborate security arrangements by erecting barricades on the road toward the mosque and deployed heavy police force.

However, the speakers at the rally led by Swami Darshan Bharati spewed venom against Muslims, openly challenged the administration and reiterated their resolve to demolish the mosque stating that it was illegal.

Swami Darshan Bharati is a known hate monger having several pending hate speech cases against him including one at infamous Haridwar ‘Dharam Sansad’. While, the participants of the rally sat for hours on dharna, as police did not allow them to proceed toward the mosque. The district administration officials made several attempts to talk to the protestors and again look into their demands but the crowd became restless and tried to break the barricade and allegedly threw water bottles on police personnel leading to the lathi-charge. This was followed by stone-pelting in which some policemen and others were injured. Swami Darshan Bharati was amongst those injured and was admitted to hospital along with injured police personnel. The Uttarkashi police had registered cases against 200 unnamed persons and arrested four of their leaders allegedly involved in the violence. The Hindu groups have threatened to hold a ‘Mahapanchayat’ in Uttarkashi against the administrative action after the Diwali festival.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.