FIR filed for posters asking Muslim traders to leave by June 15: Uttarkashi Cop

DEHRADUN: A first information report (FIR) has been registered by the Uttarkashi police against unidentified people who put up posters threatening Muslim traders to leave the area by June 15 amid tension over a foiled bid to abduct a 14-year-old girl by two men, including one from the minority community, last month, the Uttarakhand police said on Tuesday.

The FIR was registered at Purola police station under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 505 (statements aimed at public mischief), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint by Purola station house officer KS Chauhan.

“We have filed the FIR on Monday against unidentified people for promoting enmity between different groups and threatening a particular community under relevant sections of the IPC. Our efforts are on to identify those who put up the posters in the Purola main market,” said Chauhan. Muslims run about 30-40 shops in the Purola main market.

The posters surfaced two days after members of right-wing outfits held protests in Barkot and allegedly attacked shops and houses belonging to Muslims. Police are yet to arrest the people behind the attacks. The posters, which referred to Muslims as “love jihadists”, told them to vacate their shops before the meeting of a maha panchayat on June 15.

Uttarkashi Superintendent of police (SP) Arpan Yaduvanshi told HT on Monday that a probe was underway to identify the people behind the offensive posters.

There has been tension in Uttarkashi since May 26 when two men, later identified by the police as Ubed Khan (24), a local shopkeeper, and Jitender Saini (23), a motorcycle mechanic, allegedly attempted to abduct a 14-year-old girl. The two were arrested the following day from Hudoli village.

Right-wing groups spotlighted the religion of the Muslim man among the two and insisted that it was part of a continuing conspiracy of ‘love jihad’ – a term used by right-wing groups to describe an alleged conspiracy by Muslim men to woo and seduce Hindu women.

On May 29, a protest march in Purola turned violent after some of the agitators attacked shops and establishments belonging to the Muslims. A similar protest was held on June 3, under the banner of Yamuna Ghati Hindu Jagriti Sangathan. Nearly 900 people took part in the stir.

Several shops run by the Muslims have remained shut since May 29.