Uttarakhand: Kashmiri Shawl Seller’s Assault Follows String of Attacks on Muslims

Dehradun: Despite proclamation by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that he is not at all serving hate, a young 18-year-old Kashmiri boy selling shawls along with his brother in the Vikas Nagar area of Dehradun district was brutally beaten up recently by Right-wing elements allegedly owing allegiance to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The arrest of the accused took place only after intervention by Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

According to the victim Mohammad Danish, he and his younger brother Mohammad Tabish had gone to a confectionary shop to buy some eatables when the owner of the shop on Dak Pathar Road, started questioning them about their identity and when told that they were from J&K, the shopkeeper, Kukreti, started abusing them and allegedly asked some other youngsters standing in the vicinity to “finish them off”.

kashmiri youth Mohammad Danish was brutally attacked by Right wing elements in Vikasnagar area of Dehradun district on January 28, 2026

Both the brothers said they were brutally beaten up with iron rods. The attackers charged that Kashmiris had killed Indians at Pulwama and they would teach them a lesson. Mohammad Danish was hit on the head with the rod and his arm was also fractured.  Danish sustained serious head injuries after being struck with iron rods. He was initially shifted to a local hospital and later referred to Doon Hospital, Dehradun, with blood reportedly oozing from his head following the assault.

The father had been selling shawls and suits in the area and had gone to Ambala that day. Danish, who used to accompany his father, took Tabish, a school student in Kashmir who is on winter break, to Vikasnagar.

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims and Muslim community representatives lodged a complaint with the Vikasnagar Police immediately. The police as usual registered an FIR against “unknown people” despite the fact that Vikasnagar is a small place where everybody knows each other.

Under the present BJP-RSS regime, Right-wing elements, under alleged protection from the authorities, have been continuously targeting Muslim community members throughout the state.

A few days ago, a century old ‘mazar’ at the hill station of Mussoorie was vandalised by such Right wing groups, but the local police registered a case against three persons under lenient sections.  

Nasir Khuehami, convenor of the J&K Students Association, in a statement said the incident was a chilling reminder of how communal profiling, intimidation, and mob brutality were being normalised against vulnerable communities trying to earn a dignified livelihood during harsh winter months.

“An 18-year-old helping his family survive the winter by selling shawls was met not with humanity, but with hatred”, he added.  

Khuehami strongly urged the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami to intervene immediately, ensure the registration of a strict FIR, and book all the culprits under relevant sections of law. This case must be pursued with seriousness, and a clear precedent must be set so that such acts of hate and violence are not repeated with impunity.

More than a dozen cases of harassment of Kashmiri shawl sellers have come to light during the past two months in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

In its latest, Report 2025: Hate Speech Events in India, the Centre for the Study of Organised Hate (CSOH), Washinton DC, published in the second week of January 2026, Dhami has emerged as the most prolific hate-speech actor in 2025, with 71 speeches, followed by Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad chief Pravin Togadia (46) and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay (35).

The India Hate Lab (IHL) of the CSOH documented 1,318 hate speech events targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in 2025 across 21 states, one union territory, and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. On average, four hate speech events occurred per day. This marks a 13% increase from 2024, and 97% increase from 2023, when 668 such incidents were recorded.

Reacting to the report, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister said he had never indulged in any hate speech but was only trying to protect the culture and heritage of Uttarakhand which is a ‘Devbhoomi’ (land of Gods).

On January 21, the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in its latest fact-finding report, Excluded, Targeted and Displaced- Uttarakhand and The Politics of Hate, released summarised that Right-wing Hindutva groups had fuelled communal tensions in Uttarakhand through a surge in hate crimes, violence, and economic boycotts targeting Muslims, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation since 2021.

The writer is a senior freelance journalist based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.