A 16-year-old Muslim boy in Uttarakhand’s Satpuli town will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Monday, the Hindustan Times reported, after Hindutva groups protested violently against a photo he had put up on Facebook. The police said the boy and his father were in their custody.
Jagat Ram Joshi, the superintendent of police, Pauri Garhwal district, said a complaint was filed under the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code for acting deliberately to hurt religious feelings.
Protests had broken out on Sunday, allegedly led by the members of the Bajrang Dal, after the minor had posted the objectionable picture of the Kedarnath shrine on Facebook. An angry mob had set a vegetable shop belonging to the his relatives on fire.
“The situation is under control,” Joshi told The Indian Express. “We have deployed the police in Satpuli and we shall now act on the FIR and track the minor.”
Satpuli is a small town in Uttarakhand, and only a few Muslim families live there. No communal violence has been reported from the area before.
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