A video from Haldwani in Uttarakhand is going viral on social media where some people are seen dragging a shopkeeper out and beating him on the street. A crowd, including women, gathered around as a result of the occurrence. The people are accusing the young man of practising love jihad. Subsequently, everyone is heard discussing about catching and bringing him to the police station. The incident transpired on 25th April.
“This is an incident from Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Hindus rent out shops to Muslims in greed for the rent and they start going their jihad. He (the culprit) operated a mobile shop. He used to send messages to any girl who came to him for recharge. It is love jihad. Boycott them economically and socially,” highlighted social media user Anil Sharma while sharing the 1:39 minute-long footage.
Background of the incident
The case pertained to the Kotwali area of Haldwani. A woman living there filed a police complaint on 25th April and charged that her 17-year-old minor daughter had gone to recharge a mobile phone a few days ago. The shop is named ‘Delhi Mobile Shop’ and is run by Atharuddin who took the number of the girl. Later he started sending dirty messages to her. OpIndia has screenshots of some of the texts sent by him.
The minor girl repeatedly called Atharuddin ‘brother’ in the messages, however, he refused to refer to himself as such and forced her to make friends with him. A lot of messages have been deleted. He also claimed that he saw her in his dreams. Her mother also revealed in the complaint that he attempted to deceive the minor by referring to himself as a Sikh.
The complaint disclosed that the perpetrator didn’t stop there and even followed the girl to her college stop. He used to molest her and tried to hold her hand on the way. She also shared her ordeal with an acquaintance who went to the store to complain to Atharuddin who started fighting and arguing with the person and challenged, “Do what you want to do. I am not afraid of anyone. I will abscond the girl in front of everyone.”
Furthermore, he threatened to murder the individual. The mother divulged that the threat had terrified her daughter and she has descended into a state of mental depression as well as quit eating and drinking. She expressed the fear of something untoward with her daughter. She demanded strict action against the Muslim youth in the complaint. OpIndia has a copy of it. Police have taken Atharuddin into custody. The case is being investigated and legal action is underway. OpIndia contacted the Nainital Police in this matter, but they haven’t responded. The report will be updated if they choose to answer.
OpIndia spoke with Haldwani-based Bajrang Dal worker Joginder Singh Rana, also known as Jogi. According to him, the culprit resides on Mukhani Road in Haldwani with his whole family. He is almost 10 years older than the victim. Joginder Rana informed that Atharuddin does not even have valid documents to run the shop and asserted to have found numbers of many other Hindu girls in his mobile along with objectionable chats with them.