Hindutva group members booked in Dehradun for allegedly assaulting, trying to evict Muslim vendors

A first information report has been filed against at least five members of a Hindutva group, Kali Sena, for making allegedly inflammatory speeches urging residents in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun to evict Muslim tenants and assaulting shopkeepers, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.

The incident took place on February 4 when a group of 50 to 60 persons had gathered in Dehradun’s Nathuawala area to protest the alleged sexual abuse of a minor a day earlier.

The persons “incited people, giving a communal angle to [the sexual abuse case] and delivering provocative speeches, urging locals to assault and evict tenants from other communities living or running businesses in the area”, the newspaper quoted the FIR as saying.

The FIR was filed on a complaint by Sub-Inspector Sanjay Rawat, who is in charge of the Balawala outpost. It named the organisation’s Bhupesh Joshi and his associates Vaibhav Panwar, Acharya Vipul Bangwal, Ajay Captain and Rajendra Singh Negi, a retired Army officer, among others as persons accused in the matter, The Indian Express reported.

Subsequently, the group marched from Nathuwawala to the Donali area “while vandalising signboards and banners of shops owned by individuals from other communities,” according to the FIR.

At 4.30 pm on February 5, members of the organisation used social media to organise another gathering at the…

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