A Kashmiri vendor was allegedly manhandled at the International Gita Festival in Haryana’s Kurukshetra last week by a mob carrying saffron flags. Members of the mob allegedly called him a Bangladeshi and publicly called for boycotting Muslim vendors at the fair. The police have booked a case in connection with the December 7 incident on a complaint lodged by the vendor, Yunus Khan. He is among 26 vendors from Srinagar and nearby areas who participate in the ongoing crafts fair organised on the periphery of Brahma Sarovar. Khan told the police that he had been participating in the fair for many years but had faced such an experience never before. Out of the nearly 600 stalls, about 50 are set up by Muslim vendors who have come from different parts of the country. In his complaint, Khan said, “On Saturday, a group of 30-40 persons came to my stall and started shouting slogans. They accused me of being a Bangladeshi. They used a public address system and shouted slogans asking people not to buy any article from Muslims’ shops. They thrashed me with sticks that they were carrying and vandalised my shop.” The police said the case was registered on Tuesday on charges including rioting and criminal intimidation. “The FIR has been registered and the investigation is going on. CCTV footage from the spot is being examined to identify the miscreants,” Station House Officer Dinesh Singh told reporters.
