The tension has gripped Uttarkhand’s Tehri Garhwal district after a man was arrested for allegedly impregnating minor girl.
The purported video clip showed some locals getting the head of a man, identified as 23-year-old Dil Zafar Alam, shaved and his face blackened.
There are reports of people from the minority community leaving the area, mentioned IE report.
It said the video shot on Friday showed Zafar with tonsured head and blackened face in the custody of a group of people.
“He was later handed over to the Revenue Police, which arrested him for rape and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the case has been transferred to the regular police since,” said the report.
The report quoting: “Nasiruddin Alvi, a barber who also left the area after the Friday incident, said that some members of his community living in the area were beaten up by right-wing groups, a claim denied by Tehri Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Navneet Singh.”
“Dil Zafar has been working in the area as a labourer for some years. Recently, when the girl was found pregnant, her family members came and assaulted Zafar. They called me to shave his head, and also blackened his face before handing him over to the Revenue Police,” the report quoted Nasiruddin as having said.
“While confirming that he helped Muslim families living in the area get a safe passage, district panchayat member Amit Mewar, who is also BJP Yuva Morcha district general secretary, denied that anybody from the minority community was assaulted or threatened,” it added.
“After that, some right-wing members came to the locality and indulged in violence…I left with my wife, son, and younger brother to my hometown in Bijnor. Around 40-45 others from UP and Bihar have also left the area. Some Hindus helped us get a safe passage,” Nasiruddin was quoted as having said.
The report quoting a police official said the matter came to light on Friday and the claims that people from the minority community were assaulted or forced to leave were baseless.
“However, on the demand of the local SDM, police have been deployed as a precautionary measure,” the above official was quoted as having said.
