Kashmiri shawl seller brutally assaulted, severely injured in Uttarakhand

Kashmiri shawl seller brutally assaulted, severely injured in Uttarakhand

S.M.A. KAZMI

Dehradun, Jan 29

Despite proclamation by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that he is not at all serving hate, a young 18-year-old Kashmiri boy selling shawls along with his brother in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun district was brutally beaten up by right wing elements owing alleged allegiance with the ruling BJP/RSS last evening.

According to the victim Mohammad Danish and his younger brother Mohammad Tabish, they had gone to a confectionary shop to buy some eatables when the owner of the shop on Dakpather Road, namely Kukreti started questioning them. He asked about their identity and when told that they were from J&K, the shopkeeper started abusing them and asked some other youngsters standing in the vicinity to ‘finish them off”.

Both the brothers were brutally beaten up with iron rods. The attackers charged that Kashmiris had killed Indians at Pulwama and they would teach them a lesson. Mohammad Danish was hit on the head with the rod and his arm was also fractured.  Danish sustained serious head injuries after being struck with iron rods. He was initially shifted to a local hospital and was later referred to Doon Hospital, Dehradun with blood reportedly oozing from his head following the assault.

The father of the boys has been selling shawls and suits in the area and has gone to Ambala yesterday. Mohammad Danish who used to accompany his father went along with his younger brother Mohammad Tabish who is a school student and had come to Vikasnagar during his winter break in Kashmir. The raltives of the victims and Muslim community representatives lodged a complaint with the Vikasnagar police last evening. The police as usual registered an FIR against unknown people despite the fact that Vikasnagar is a small place where everybody knows everybody else. However, under the present BJP/RSS regime, the right wing elements under alleged protection from authorities are running amock and targeting minority Muslim community members throughout the state.

Few days ago, a century old ‘Mazar’ at hill station of Mussoorie was vandalised by such right wing groups but the local police registered a case against lenient sections against three persons.

Nasir Kuehami, convenor of the J&K Students Association  in a statement said that it was a chilling reminder of how communal profiling, intimidation, and mob brutality are being normalised against vulnerable communities trying to earn a dignified livelihood during harsh winter months. An 18-year-old helping his family survive the winter by selling shawls was met not with humanity, but with hatred, he added.

He strongly urged the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami to intervene immediately, ensure the registration of a strict FIR, and book all the culprits under relevant sections of law. This case must be pursued with seriousness, and a clear precedent must be set so that such acts of hate and violence are not repeated with impunity.

Earlier more than a dozen cases of harassment of Kashmiri shawl sellers have come to light during the past two months in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

In it’s latest, “ Report 2025: Hate Speech Events in India” of the Centre for the Study of Organised Hate (CSOH) , Washinton DC in the second week of January 2026, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has emerged as the most prolific hate-speech actor in 2025, with 71 speeches, followed by Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad chief Pravin Togadia (46) and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay (35).

India Hate Lab (IHL) of the CSOH documented 1,318 hate speech events targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in 2025 across 21 states, one union territory, and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. On average, four hate speech events occurred per day. This marks a 13% increase from 2024, and 97% increase from 2023, when 668 such incidents were recorded.

Reacting to the report Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar singh Dhami said that he had never indulged in any hate speech but only trying to protect the culture and hertitage of Uttarakhand which is a ‘Devbhoomi’ ( land of Gods).

On January 21, Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in its’ latest fact finding report Titled “Excluded, Targeted and Displaced- Uttarakhand and The politics of hate”’ released on January 21,2026 at Press Club of India, summarised that the right-wing Hindutva groups have fueled communal tensions in Uttarakhand through a surge in hate crimes, violence, and economic boycotts targeting Muslims, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation since 2021.