The dozens of Muslims who were forced to leave the Purola town of Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, which witnessed communal tension in June last year after two men were arrested for abducting a minor Hindu girl, have returned to the town. But they say the shock and pain still remains, and life will never be the same for them. The pain has been exacerbated by the fact that many of their friends and relatives have moved out of the town permanently.
Almost a year ago, as rumours that two men kidnapped a minor Hindu girl spread like wildfire in Purola, the police arrested two men within hours – Ubaid Khan and Jitendra Saini. They remained in jail for weeks but were finally acquitted by a court in Uttarkashi in May this year. The acquittal came after the victim informed the court that she was never abducted by anyone and that she gave her earlier statements as instructed by the police.
Quoting from the court order, Halim Beg, the lawyer who represented both the men, said, “The girl told the court that she went to Purola market and was looking for a tailor’s shop. She had asked for help from Ubaid and Saini and the two showed her the shop. The girl stated the two made no attempt to abduct her.”
He rued that the police had invoked Section 366A (inducing a minor to go from anywhere) of the IPC and sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the duo.
While the kidnapping claims fell flat in court a year later, it left Purola on the boil. Calling it a case of Love Jihad, fringe right-wing outfits stuck posters on shops owned by Muslims, asking them to leave or face the consequences. The activists also demanded a complete ban on the entry of Muslims into Purola, a town also close to Yamunotri Temple, one of the four important Hindu shrines in Uttarakhand.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.