A Kashmiri shawl seller was assaulted by a group of men allegedly associated with a Hindutva organisation in Kashipur town of Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district on Monday, The Indian Express reported.
The man, Kupwara resident Bilal Ahmed Ganie, was attacked when he was going from door to door to sell shawls. The assault came to light on Thursday when a video of it was widely shared on social media platform Instagram.
In the video, Ganie was seen being beaten up by men who demanded that he shout “Bharat mata ki jai”.
Ganie told The Times of India that the assailants asked him his name and where he was from.
“When I said Kashmir, they started beating me with kicks and punches,” he said. “One of them hit my legs with a cane, and I fell to the ground.”
The shawl seller was further quoted as saying: “They asked me to say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. I said I would proudly say ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ as this is our country.”
Ganie said that bystanders goaded the mob and verbally abused him, The Indian Express reported.
Ganie said he had lodged a complaint, but added that he did not want to pursue the case as he feared facing reprisal from the group.
“As much as I want justice and condemnation for the act, I am scared of the consequences,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “I have to travel back to Kashmir in two months, and the case would tie me to Uttarakhand.”
The police in Udham Singh Nagar said that as the video of the assault was of a sensitive nature, they had it removed from the social media platform.
A case has been registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, snatching of property and public nuisance, The Indian Express quoted a statement from the office of the senior superintendent of police as saying.
“The police have identified the men seen in the viral video and taken them into custody,” the police said. “A fair and thorough investigation is being conducted and strict legal action against the guilty will be ensured.”
Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti urged the Uttarakhand police chief to intervene and ensure “that the perpetrators are held accountable and such incidents are not repeated in future”.
Jammu and Kashmir Students Association National Convenor Nasir Khuehami said that Ganie had been selling shawls in Udham Singh Nagar for the past nine to ten years. “Despite this, he was threatened, asked to vacate the area and leave the state immediately, his stock was looted, and he was even threatened with death,” he said.
Khuehami urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to “immediately intervene, put an end to this reign of terror, and ensure the prompt arrest of the culprits”.
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