Communal tension erupts in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani; case filed against 40 people
A ruckus was created at Haldwani in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district after a group of people protested outside a house used by Muslims for offering prayers, accusing them of illegally constructing a mosque at the site
Communal tension erupted at Haldwani in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district on Monday night after a group of people protested outside a house used by Muslims for offering prayers, accusing them of illegally constructing a mosque at the site, police said.
A ruckus was created in Bhotia Padao area around 9pm when 30-40 protestors gathered outside the house belonging to a lawyer, which was allegedly situated on a ‘nazul land’ (government land given on lease for non-agricultural purposes). Earlier, officials had stopped the construction at the site and sealed the building, saying that it did not have an approved map. Right-wing activists alleged that Muslims had been using this house for offering prayers.
Members of the Muslim community said that they had to stop the Taraweeh namaz (Ramzan special prayers) due to the protests. Around 10-12 people including the lawyer and the imam came out stopping the prayers, they said. They also alleged that the imam was slapped by someone during the ruckus.
Following this, the Muslims gheraoed the Haldwani police station and started raising slogans against police. They blocked the Nainital highway outside the police station around 2am demanding immediate arrest of the attackers. The police force surrounded the gate from all sides to prevent people from entering the police station. Police also used lathi-charge to control the crowd.
Haldwani city magistrate, Richa Singh, and Kumaon inspector general (IG) of police, Nilesh Anand Bharne, reached the spot.
Nainital senior superintendent of police (SSP), Pankaj Bhatt, called the city imam of Jama Masjid, Mufti Azam Qadri, to diffuse the matter. He also addressed the crowd through the loudspeaker installed in the police vehicle and asked them to let the police do their work. Following this, the angry protesters calmed down and started going towards their respective homes.
The SSP said that a first information report (FIR) has been lodged against 40 people on the complaint of Mohammad Shahid, the imam of the area who was leading Ramzan prayers in the area.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nanital district president, Pratap Bisht, rejected the allegations that one of the people involved in the ruckus was a member of his party. “Mukesh Bhatt, whose name is coming up in the incident, is currently not in the BJP. He had switched over from the BJP to the Congress in the last assembly election. He has nothing to do with the BJP,” he said.
Abdul Mateen Siddiqui, a senior Muslim leader in Haldwani said, “The incident that happened on Monday night here is very condemnable. It can spoil atmosphere of not only the city but in whole of Kumaon. People of any community should not act like this. Action should be taken against the people who did all this.”
“If they had any issue with the offering of Namaz inside the building, they should have filed a complaint and not taken law in their own hands,” he added.