Dog leash, mob assault, and fear: Escalating campaign against Muslims in Uttarakhand

Dog leash, mob assault, and fear: Escalating campaign against Muslims in Uttarakhand

S.M.A.Kazmi

Dehradun, July 23

The image of a young Muslim man, grievously injured after allegedly being assaulted by a mob of Hindutva extremists, with a dog leash fastened around his neck and tied to a pole in Haridwar’s Khankhal area, has emerged as a stark symbol of the harassment, intimidation, and growing insecurity faced by Muslims in Uttarakhand, often referred to as ‘Devbhoomi’ (Land of the Gods). The young man was caught with Hindu girl and assaulted badly by a group of Bajrang dal members, which are on prowl throughout the length and breadth of Uttarakhand state targeting Muslims on one pretext or other. But in this case, the girl has taken up courage to lodge a police FIR against the attackers.

The target in the past months had been Muslim youth studying in various colleges, universities or working as small-time workers. They had been targeted by belligerent groups of Bajrang dal, Hindu Rakhsha Dal or Kali Sena, all affiliate of RSS/ BJP ruling dispensation for ‘Love Jehad’ if they are caught with a Hindu girl.

There had been scores of incidents in the past month where members of these groups having tacit understanding of the police force and authorities are barging into rooms, hostels, hotels and restaurants beating up Muslim youth if caught with any Hindu girl. It appears that the ‘Rule of Law’ has replaced by the new ‘code of conduct’ powered by Hindutva forces as the Uttarakhand police has abdicated it’s entire responsibility.

Interestingly, these Hindutva groups are multiplying at an alarming rate and have carved out their own territories to save the Hindus and particularly their Hindu sisters from ‘Jehadi Muslims’ with police looking the other way or even accompanying them in their zealous agenda.

The campaign is not confined to only targeting Muslims by these groups but also amplifying the incidents with the help of social media platforms. These groups are accompanied by camera teams which record the incidents. The victims are beaten up thoroughly and told to parrot the narrative set up by the aggressors. The victims are threatened to utter that they have been assigned the task of ‘trapping’ Hindu girls by the ‘Maulanas’ for ‘Love Jehad’ for a financial reward. The assaulters even quote rates of different Hindu caste girls set by the Muslim clergy.

These groups and even individuals have targeted Muslims on the basis of their names and the names of their businesses. They have been charged with impersonating keeping Hindu names. These groups are roaming freely and even scrouging hotels, rest houses and resorts in and around Dehradun and Rishikesh for any young Muslim staying there. In the past few months many Muslims youngsters have been beaten up by these groups for staying in the hotels with Hindu girls or women. They were charged with indulging in ‘Love Jehad’. With growing popularity on social media platforms, more such vigilante groups under the garb of Hindutva are checking saloon ,parlours, hotels and resorts for suspected prostitutions rackets.

Some of the more sophisticated groups have experts who help in making reels or videos showing what they want to show and omitting the violence. Such social media posts besides nurturing the BJP/RSS narrative of “Love Jehad” ‘Land Jehad’ and other forms of Jehad manufactured by them, vilifying Muslims in the eyes of gullible public also result in lakhs of views and many of these are monetised bringing money.

A story by ‘The Wire’ news portal titled, ‘In Uttarakhand, Bajrang dal members are now professional hate infleuncers’ written By Kaushik Raj and Vipul Kumar said that “Their pages show that anti-Muslim hate videos do not seem to be only about propagating a certain ideology, but are fast becoming a profitable and algorithmically rewarded genre of content creation.”    The story indicated that these groups are serving hate in a professional manner under the patronage of authorities without any check from social media platform companies.

These groups are spread all over the state from Pithoragarh in the east to Uttarkashi in the west. Almost every day, these groups are posting their ‘activities’ on social media platforms targeting Muslims. These groups namely Bajrang Dal, Kali Sena, Hindu Raksha Dal and Hindu Sena are active in every city and town and even demarcated their areas. In Rishikesh area, there is Naresh Uniyal, In Raipur area of Dehradun Bhupesh Joshi is leading the charge. In Vikasnagar, kalsi and Chakrata area, there is one Rakesh Uttarakhandi. In Pithoragarh there is Pradeep Joshi who is regularly harassing Muslims.

In Dehradun city, there are alteast three groups, one led by Aman Swedia of Bajrang Dal and another by Vikas Verma, another group led by Lalit Sharma of Hindu Raksha Dal has been abusive against Muslims on social media. He has been making outrageous and provocative comments and even few FIRs have also been lodged against him by Muslim Sewa Sangathan, a body of young Muslims. There have been police cases against most of them but no concrete action has been taken and these groups are emboldened by each and every of their actions.

“ It is most unfortunate that police and senior officials have shown their inability in doing anything against them. We approach police after such incidents which comes to our notice but no strong action has been initiated except filing some FIRs,” lamented Nayeem Quraishy, President of Muslim Sewa Sangathan.

Radha Dhoni Semwal and Sharradha, are women Hindutva foot soldiers who are also active in harassing poor Muslim street vendors and Van Gujjars. They are accompanied by even policeman for their protection.

In Srinagar Garhwal, there is Lakhpat Bhandari, a BJP leader who has spearheaded the Hindutva tirade against Muslims in the area. His wife Aarti Bhandari is BJP mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation.

There is severe competition between these groups and oneupmanship in targeting Muslims on one pretext or another. Apart from efforts to economically boycott Muslims, there had been demands by these groups to debar the minority community from using government run medical facilities. Since AIIMS, Rishikesh is the only government run prestigious hospital in the region, a lot of people of all communities including Muslims from neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh go there for treatment, the Hindutva groups seeks to debar them demanding that AIIMS, Rishikesh should exclusively for people of ‘Devbhoomi’.

In the past five years of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who is trying to portray himself as a hardline Hindutva icon on the lines of mentors Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah there had been incidents across the state where Muslims were targeted, attacked assaulted and even made to flee their homes and hearths.

The poor Muslims who mostly do small time businesses, trade or sell fruits and vegetables are targeted particularly those with a beard and a skull cap. Hindutva group members are proudly seen checking the antecedents of Muslims selling goods on their motorcycles or cycles. Some are forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram” and threatened against entering the state or that area ana asked to get their verification done from local councillors.

In Rishikesh, where there is no mosque to pray, Muslims who assemble to pray in some private house are harassed, threatened and accused of converting their house into a mosque. Recently, a young student from Deoband with a beard and a beard who was visiting an ailing relative was seen being harassed by a Hindutva zealot in Rishikesh area.

The state administration led by Dhami has been engaged in dismantling in ‘Mazars’ and mosques across the state on the grounds of being illegal while Chief Minister has publicly proclaimed that by doing away with Madrassas, he has controlled “Mullawadi” (Muslim) culture to develop in the state. Already more than 600 Mazars have been demolished and scores of mosques sealed across the state in the name of anti-encroachment drive. No action has been initiated against Hindu temples and shrines on forest and government lands. Since state assembly elections are fast approaching, the anti-Muslim rhetoric also gains momentum. Last week, the Uttarakhand police removed loudspeakers from nearly a hundred mosques in Dehradun and Haridwar districts on the grounds of implementation of Supreme court directions but Hindu temples and Sikh Gurdwaras were spared.

It is not that the ire of these Hindutva groups is solely directed towards Muslims, Christians were also victims of wrath of these groups. Purnima Solomon, who runs Sophia High school on Nashville Road, Dehradun lodged a FIR on July 8, 2026 charging that Aman Swedia along with 20 to 25 other persons barged into her school assaulting and threatening the staff. They alleged that the school has been indulging in conversion activities. Similarly, a prayer meeting of Christians in Tehri was disrupted by Hindutva elements accusing the Christians of conversions, last month.