By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 29 May: The incident of a local minor Hindu girl student in Purola (District Uttarkashi) has created tension in the town. The incident has enraged the local people and they are now resorting to protests. They took to the streets again today in Purola. BJP workers and other workers of some RSS affiliated organisations also joined hands with the local people in staging the protest and taking out a procession. A large number of young men and women, as well as local businesspersons participated in the protest held today.
The protest led to tense moments in the streets of the town as slogans were raised asking people of a particular community (Muslims) to vacate their shops in the market. This follows abduction of a local Hindu minor girl by a young Muslim man. The accused is absconding and though the Police have promised to arrest him, so far the Police remains empty handed.
A meeting was arranged by the local administration and people between members of both the communities to restore normalcy in the town, but the discussion mainly remained focus on how to stop recurrence of such incidents in future. The local people have also submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the local administration urging him to intervene to ensure arrest of the culprit. The protestors were also beating drums while staging protest near Mori Bend.
The procession was taken out to the main market and tehsil premises via Court Road, Mori Road, Kumola Road and Mandir Marg. Through SDM Devanand Sharma, a memorandum was sent to the Governor, demanding the immediate eviction of criminal type businessmen of a particular community from the town. In protest against the incident, all the shops, hotels and business establishments of the Nagar Panchayat area remained closed since morning on Monday.
It may be recalled that a Muslim youth, Ubed Khan, who worked for bicycle repair shop on Kumola Road is stated to have abducted a Class 9 student of the Hindu community. His accomplice in the crime is stated to be a Hindu boy, Jitendra Saini. Khan is learnt to have taken the girl to Vikasnagar in Dehradun. This incident has evoked a sharp reaction from the local people who today removed the boards from the shops being run by people of the other community. All the shops of the Muslim Community remained closed today. President of the local body of traders, Brijmohan Chauhan, BJP District General Secretary Pawan Nautiyal, Amichand Shah, Baldev Rawat, Rajpal Panwar, Chandramohan Rawat, Gambhir Chauhan, Ramchandra Panwar, Chandramohan, Dinesh Uniyal, Baldeb Aswal, Virendra Singh Rawat, Lokesh Uniyal, former Nagar Panchayat President Pyarelal Himani, Prakash Kumar and Lokesh Badoni led the protests today.
Meanwhile, CO Surendra Singh Bhandari asserted that, despite public outrage, the protests were largely peaceful and the police have appealed to everyone to maintain the peace. He further claimed that the investigation is still underway. According to local sources, around 40 shopkeepers from the Muslim community have for the time being left the town till the tension subsides. According to the local BJP leaders, such incidents in the hills are on rise and there is an urgent need to conduct verification of all those settling in the hills from outside in order to prevent such incidents in the future.
