Uttarakhand: Police prevent another mob lynching in Tehri Garhwal 

Another case of mob rage has been reported from Ghansali town of Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand on Monday, July 30, when a mob beat up a Muslim youth who was found with a girl belonging to the majority community in a hotel room at Ghansali.

According to police, the mob locked the youth in the hotel and later started beating him up. The mob belonging to majority community mercilessly beat him up, garlanded him with shoes and slippers and paraded him throughout the market, shouting slogans against 'Love Jihad'. An announcement was also made on loudspeakers asking the members of the minority community to leave Ghansali.

The police somehow managed to free the youth from the mob and brought him to the police station. The mob then vented their ire on 11 shops belonging to the Muslim community, ransacking their shops and throwing their belongings on the road. Agitated locals including trade association president Pareshwar Prasad Badoni, Sahib Singh Kumain and others blocked the road.

Tehri Garhwal Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Yogendar Singh Rawat himself reached the spot and tried to pacify the mob. Additional police force from Tehri was sent and deployed at Ghansali. DM Tehri Sonika has also given necessary directions to handle the case carefully.

SSP Rawat said that additional police force has been deployed at Ghansali market and a flag march was also conducted considering the sensitivity of the situation. The police has registered a case against the youth since the girl was reportedly a minor.

Since, the BJP state government has come to power in Uttarakhand in March 2017, there has been more than half a dozen cases of attacks on members of minority community in the Garhwal hills on some pretext or another.