Uttarakhand police intervene after many Muslim traders are told to leave town

Tensions rose in Pithoragarh district’s Dharchula in February when two minor girls from the area were allegedly abducted and raped by an 18-year-old man from Uttarakhand Pradesh’s Bareilly. The man, identified as Irfan, was subsequently arrested and booked on charges of rape and kidnapping, and the girls were rescued within three days. Another man named Irfan was also arrested in connection with the case.

In response to the incident, the local traders’ union organised protests and marches against “outsiders”. The union also identified 91 traders from outside the area, cancelled their registrations with the union and told them to shut shop and leave.

Sources said that the shops of these traders remained closed for 2-3 days until the administration intervened. The shops reopened on Monday.

Talking to The Indian Express, Dharchula Sub Divisional Magistrate Manjit Singh said the administration has provided security to all shop owners and that no one had to leave unless they wanted to. An FIR has also been registered against the traders’ union.

“Several traders involved in business here are from the neighbouring state, mainly western Uttar Pradesh. There was an incident in Dharchula in February when two ‘outsider’ boys working here lured away two minor girls. The girls were rescued and the accused were arrested… Since then, there has been some anger among the locals. They felt that outsiders come here and get involved in illegal activities,” he said.

“The traders from outside were also associated with the local Vyapar Mandal (traders’ union), which suo-moto deregistered them. The mandal also called for those deregistered to close their shops and leave Dharchula. The deregistered members, however, came to us and we provided them security. We said that no one needs to leave unless they want to. We organised peacekeeping meetings and tried to convince all parties. We also got an FIR registered against those making such calls. The shops have been open since Monday and the situation is perfectly normal,” Singh said.

He confirmed that those deregistered were mostly Muslims.

Dharchula circle officer (CO) Parvez Ali said that the suo-moto FIR was registered by the police against six named from the union and 40 unidentified people under sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) of the IPC.

Talking to The Indian Express, the traders’ union general secretary Mahesh Garbiyal claimed that the “outsiders” were taking their business and also causing security threats in the area.

“The locals here are very agitated because of this and are continuously protesting. There were around 800 members registered with the union and after identification, we have deregistered 91 of those who came here after the year 2000. Most of them are Muslims. We demand that they leave the area. After the intervention of the administration, the shops have been open since Monday. As the model code of conduct is in place, we will wait till it is lifted. After that, we will restart our protest,” Garbiyal said.