Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindutva organisations staged a protest in Bhaderwah town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Monday, demanding the release of two youngsters who were arrested for their alleged involvement in a stone-pelting incident, PTI reported.

The police had arrested the two people – a barber and an autorickshaw driver – on Monday afternoon after they were found to be allegedly involved in the violence that broke out on May 16 following the death of a man in a shooting incident.

Shopkeepers in Seri Bazaar in Bhaderwah town downed shutters by 6 pm and gathered at Laxmi Narayan Chowk to protest against the arrests, reported Greater Kashmir. The protest was jointly called by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the local BJP unit.

The protestors alleged that the police, especially the Bhaderwah station house officer, who was recently transferred to the town from Kishtwar, was biased against the Hindu community and was harassing them. The protestors said the arrest of the two youths was “nothing but police-sponsored terrorism launched by district administration to curb the nationalist voices”.

Additional personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and the police were deployed in the Seri Bazaar area.

A curfew was imposed in Bhaderwah town on May 16 after a man identified as Nayeem died after he was shot by alleged cow vigilantes. The district administration, however, refuted reports that cow vigilantism was the reason behind the man’s killing and claimed some people were trying to give the incident a communal tone, according to PTI.

Eight people were arrested in connection with the murder and over a dozen youngsters were arrested for their alleged involvement in stone pelting incidents and causing damage to vehicles during the violence that erupted following the man’s murder.

Doda is part of a communally sensitive belt in Jammu. In the neighbouring district of Kishtwar, a BJP leader was killed last year and an RSS leader last month, after which Hindutva groups called for a strike to protest against the killings.