Communal tension grips Pauri Garhwal after minor girl goes missing

Tension gripped Kirti Nagar town in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday after a group of Hindu right-wing activists allegedly ransacked shops and business establishments of some Muslim individuals, senior police officers said.

It came hours after a 16-year-old girl, whose family had filed a police complaint against a Muslim man — who worked as a barber — accusing him of molesting her and allegedly forcing her to convert to Islam, went missing from her house on Monday night, police said.

“The family of the girl on Monday gave a complaint to the police that the barber molested their daughter and forced her to convert to Islam. We registered an FIR on their complaint the same evening. The girl, meanwhile, disappeared from her house around 11pm. We have registered an FIR (against unidentified people) for her disappearance as well,” Tehri Garhwal senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ayush Agarwal said.

The officer said the police were making efforts to find the girl and added that probe was underway to find out if anyone else was also involved. “We are checking footages of CCTV cameras as well,” the SSP added.

The senior officer said that the police were also on the lookout for the 23-year-old barber, identified as Salman (who goes by a single name), a native of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, who is absconding.

Soon after the news of the girl’s disappearance spread in the area, some members of Hindu organisations held a protest in the town and allegedly ransacked two shops owned by the members of the Muslim community. Tension was palpable in the town after the incidents.

“We are checking CCTV footages from near the shops. We will take action accordingly,” Devraj Sharma, station house officer, Kirti Nagar police station, said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Pauri-Garhwal district vice-president Lakhpat Singh Bhandari raised finger at the role of the local police. “They first allowed the barber to leave the town. Now the girl is missing since last night. Had the police performed their duties, this would have never happened. We have given an ultimatum to the police to search the girl by evening (Tuesday) or else we will hold protest,” he added.

Bhandari said that some people may have ransacked the shops of Muslims “in anger”, adding that he was not aware of it.

The incident comes amid increasing communal tensions and rising anti-minority incidents in the Himalayan state.

On October 24, violence erupted in Uttarkashi district when members of Hindu right-wing outfits allegedly pelted stones at police personnel during their protest march demanding the demolition of a nearly five-decade-old mosque that they claim to be illegal.

Earlier on October 10, local traders and Hindu right-wing outfits staged a protest over the alleged rape of a girl by a barber in Chamoli’s Tharali, around 55 km from Gauchar. The protest came a day after the police arrested a 24-year-old Muslim man in the incident.