Following the Uttarakhand High Court order, the police and Haldwani Municipal Corporation officials arrived with bulldozers on February 8 to remove unlawful structures on government land, but the Muslim mob turned violent and began pelting stones. Subsequently, there was an outbreak of violence, including arson and firing. The police station and petrol pump were both set on fire. Numerous vehicles were also set ablaze. Amidst the riots, a video showing a person sitting on a bike went viral on social media. The youth seen in the video recorded the stone pelting incident on Thursday and narrated what was going on.
In the video, the man is seen saying “If police officers can be pelted with stones, so can you and I.” In the video, he states, “This is brotherhood. Come, let me show you brotherhood.” He captured on camera how stones were thrown at the police. OpIndia has identified the man seen in the viral video. His name is Deepanshu. Deepanshu told OpIndia that this video is from Thursday (February 8, 2024) after 5 p.m.
He said he was there at the scene, that he was on his way somewhere, and that after witnessing the chaos, he learned that a mob had unleashed violence after an illegal mosque-madrasa was bulldozed by the authorities. Deepanshu saw 100-150 female officials running wearing helmets to save their lives. He added that many of them suffered injuries. Some of them were taken to the hospital. Deepanshu stated that he offered water to the injured and took them to the hospital.
‘Muslims were offering water to the policeman’ – In response to this narrative, Dipanshu stated that he had not witnessed anything like this, and in fact, Muslims were pelting stones. Deepanshu added that several government officers were injured, with some bleeding from their heads, feet, and hands. Deepanshu stated that he was saddened to find that the officers in uniform themselves were suffering and crying in pain. He said that he made the video to show the reality to those who talk about Hindu-Muslim brotherhood.
Deepanshu told OpIndia about a woman police officer who was injured in the riots. He said, “Imagine how much someone would grieve if a brick fell on them. It was an extremely painful scene. The assailants began throwing stones from the roof, and the tank was filled with stones rather than water. No stones were found in the video survey, they were kept hidden. It was VHP and ‘Bajrang Dal’ workers who came forward to donate blood. There is no fault of the administration in this as they had only come to do their duty in compliance with the court order.”
Furthermore, Deepanshu told us that slogans like ‘Allahu Akbar’ were raised by the rioting mob. He revealed that Congress MLA Sumit Hridayesh is still with the rioters. He said that the police administration did not torture anyone, instead they were assaulted like demons. Deepanshu runs a photography shop. Let us inform you that Haldwani DM Vandana Singh stated that an attempt was made to kill the officers alive. Following the incident, a curfew was imposed in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura, with orders to shoot rioters on sight.