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Uttarakhand: Purola SHO, Bazar police chowki in-charge transferred amid tensions
Communal tension erupted in the Purola area of Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on May 26 following an alleged abduction attempt of a minor girl by two men, including one from the minority community
Following the communal tensions in Uttarkashi’s Purola, station house officer (SHO) KS Chauhan and in-charge of Purola Bazar Chowki Akshu Rani, were transferred by superintendent of police (SP) Arpan Yaduvanshi on the orders issued on Wednesday evening.
The transfer came amid questions being raised about the police’s “failure” to control the violence in the form of attacks on Muslim shops and houses in Purola and Barkot allegedly by right-wing organisations.
Communal tension erupted in the Purola area of Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on May 26 following an alleged abduction attempt of a minor girl by two men, including one from the minority community. The two accused were arrested on May 27 but right-wing groups held protests and attacked shops and houses of Muslims.
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The right-wing organisations termed the alleged abduction attempt as that of a “love jihad”, a term which is not recognised either by courts or the Union government and planned to hold a ‘Mahapanchayat’ against the Muslim traders in the area, a permission which was denied by the administration. However, the tensions forced 40 of 45 Muslim businessmen and residents to leave the town following threats.
The district administration had earlier imposed Section 144 of CrPC from June 14 to June 19 in anticipation of disturbance to law and order after right-wing organisations on June 14 insisted that they will hold the mahapanchayat
Police have so far not registered any case with regard to the ransacking of shops belonging to the Muslim community on May 29 in Purola and on June 3 in Barkot.
At least 55 shops owned or rented by Muslims were ransacked and attacked. The police on June 5 registered a case against unidentified people for putting up posters that threatened Muslim shopkeepers to leave the Purola town before the proposed maha panchayat on June 15. In this case too, the police have not yet identified or arrested any accused.
The Opposition Congress has accused organisations linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to give communal colour to a girl’s alleged abduction attempt on May 26 that triggered tensions in Purola.
Meanwhile, shops owned by Muslim traders in Purola reopened for the first time in nearly 20 days, in a first sign of normalcy returning to the town gradually. According to people aware of the details, the market roughly consists of 650-700 shops and of these, around 30-40 are run by Muslims.
