Uttarakhand: Muslim-run Shops Ransacked in Chamoli District Over Eve-Teasing Allegations

Dehradun: Amid a spate of incidents of alleged rape and molestations in Uttarakhand, some allegedly by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and leaders in the past few days, shops belonging to seven to eight Muslims at Nandghat near Nandprayag in Chamoli district were attacked and ransacked by Right-wing Hindu groups over allegations of teasing a minor girl by a Muslim barber on September 1, 2024.    

The shops owned by Muslims were ransacked amidst provocative slogan-shouting against the minority Muslim community in the presence of a large police force.

Articles from shops owned by Muslims strewn on the road after being ransacked at Nandghat market in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on September 1, 2024.      

As per reports, trouble was brewing in the area following a complaint lodged by the father of a minor girl against one Arif Khan, a barber shop-owner, alleging that he made indecent gestures at his daughter. A case was registered against the alleged accused who absconded but was arrested on Sunday evening from Bijnore in Uttar Pradesh.

Thereafter, a procession was taken out by Right-wing Hindu groups in the Nandghat market, raising provocative slogans that ultimately ended up in the Muslim-run shops being attacked and ransacked.

Incidentally, this has been a pattern in the hills of Uttarakhand where Muslim community members have been targeted by Bharatiya Janata party/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated groups on one pretext or other. Last month, nearly a dozen Muslims who had been living and working for the past more than two decades were forced to leave on trumped up charges of ‘love jehad’ against a Muslim student at Chauras in Kirtinagar block of Tehri Garhwal district. Muslim community members feel the police has largely ignored such cases or looked the other way, since Muslims are afraid of lodging cases. Several families have quietly left the area, they say.

In contrast, the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand has been facing acute embarrassment when during the national outrage over the Kolkata rape-murder of a trainee doctor, two of its senior leaders were accused of rape in two separate incidents, sparking outrage and forcing the party to sack these leaders.

Mukesh Bora, a senior BJP leader of Nainital district, who is also an administrator of the Uttarakhand Cooperative Dairy Federation, was accused of rape and intimidation by a widow daily wager in the dairy federation. In her complaint to the police, she alleged that she was given a job by Bora in 2021. He then took her to a hotel in November and December 2021 and raped her on the assurance of making her job permanent. She also alleged that the accused was pressuring her to have relations with his friends also, and when she refused, he sent a threat to kill her through his driver. She alleged that she had to run from pillar to post to get her complaint registered, which was finally lodged after a public outcry under Sections 376 and 506 of IPC, since the crime took place before the new criminal code came into being. Bora and his driver, Kamal Belwal, have been booked but not yet arrested, as the police is reportedly still investigating the matter.

In another case, the mother of a 14-year-old girl lodged a complaint with the revenue police of Almora district that Bhagwat Singh Bora, a mandal president of Salt area of Almora district BJP, alleging that he molested her daughter when she had gone to the forest to graze the cattle. She said the BJP leader allegedly offered her chocolate and molested her. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bora expelled from the party.

In June, a minor Dalit girl of Santarshah in Haridwar district was allegedly murdered by a BJP leader’s accomplice.

Meanwhile, top Uttarakhand Congress leaders held a dharna on August 31 and September 1 to demand police action in the alleged murders of a Dalit minor girl and another Muslim youth in Madhopur area of Roorkee in Haridwar district.

While in Nandghat incident, the district police has posted an appeal to maintain communal harmony, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has been accused of being selective in expressing his outrage at incidents involving crime against women. In a tweet from his official account, the Chief Minister took the incident of teasing of a minor girl at Nandghat in Chamoli district very seriously and said that accused would not be spared, and asked the Chamoli police to take necessary action.

However, the Chief Minister has failed to take cognisance of the fact that shops of several innocent Muslims were ransacked and provocative slogans against the minority community were reportedly raised in the presence of police.

Since 2017, when BJP came to power, there have been incidents where the minuscule Muslim population living the hills have been targeted in Uttarakhand. Recall that Dhami’s triumph in the 2022 Assembly polls rode on a virulent anti-Muslim campaign and reported attempts to vilify the Muslim community in the name of ‘love jehad’, ‘land jehad’ and ‘mazar jehad’.      

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