The Uttarakhand Police on Wednesday filed a case after a group of Hindutva supporters allegedly harassed a Muslim shop manager in Dehradun and objected to a poster that depicted Hindu deity Ram.
A video of the incident was shared on social media on Wednesday. In the video, some Hindutva supporters were heard objecting to a poster with the words “Jai Shri Ram”, while two Muslim men were seen explaining to them that they did not own the shop but worked there.
Some members of the crowd then forcibly took down the poster.
The Dehradun police said that the shop, Aman General Store, was owned by a person named Rakesh Borai, who rented it out to a man named Girish. According to the police, Girish then hired a man named Mohammed Ayub Khan to manage the shop.
The shop owner had reportedly told Girish not to make any changes to the shop’s construction or name, or to remove any items from there.
On January 9, a woman named Radha Dhoni and her supporters forcibly took down the poster and made communal remarks, the police said.
A case has been filed against Dhoni and others under provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with promoting enmity between groups, hurting religious sentiments and statements conducing to public mischief.
Akib Qureshi, an activist in Dehradun, said that a Muslim delegation met the superintendent of police and demanded strict action against Hindutva groups harassing Muslim businessmen.
“These incidents keep happening every now and then,” Qureshi told Scroll. “The police need to act strictly against these extremist groups so that everyone can live in peace.”
Also read: Muslims in Uttarakhand’s Purola recount a campaign to hound them out
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