Communal tension in Uttarakhand’s Satpuli after boy allegedly posts photo deriding Kedarnath: HT
The police said protestors vandalised a vegetable shop belonging to the Muslim boy’s relatives after he shared the post.
Right-wing Hindu groups set parts of a vegetable shop on fire in Uttarakhand’s Satpuli on Sunday, after a minor relative of its Muslim owners allegedly posted an “offensive picture of the Kedarnath shrine” on Facebook, Hindustan Times reported. The protest was led by members of the Bajrang Dal, the report claimed, based on eyewitness accounts and video footage that the newspaper said it had accessed.
Police teams from Kotdwar and Pauri have been sent to Satpuli, which lies in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttarakhand’s Garhwal district. Superintendent of Police Jagatram Joshi told HT that they have identified the boy who purportedly put up the post. Joshi said the post was “inflammatory” and added that the “district magistrate is also rushing to the spot”.
Satpuli is a small town in Uttarakhand, and only a few Muslim families live there. No communal violence has been reported from the area before. More details are awaited.
