Four held as 2 Kashmiris thrashed in Lucknow

lucknow — Two Kashmiris selling dry fruits here were thrashed a day ago on charges that they pelted stones at security forces, leading to the arrest of four rightwing activists on Thursday, police here said.

The incident took place Wednesday evening amid the nationwide backlash on Kashmiris following the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama. A group of saffron-robed youths came out of a car and pounced on the t Kashmiri men who were selling dry fruits at Daliganj Bridge.

“The Kashmiri youths were selling dry fruits on Daliganj bridge and a group of men beat them up, terming them as stone pelters,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani told repoters here on Thursday.

The vendors were beaten up mercilessly, witnesses said, and their wares were thrown around. The attackers called the victims “stone pelters” and asked them to produce their Aadhaar cards.

The Kashmiris obliged but the attackers continued to beat them. No one came to the rescue of the victims.

It was only after someone called the police that the Kashmiris were saved.

Two of the injured vendors went away before the police arrived there but one Kashmiri, identified as Afzal, was taken to the police station.

Afzal was questioned for over an hour before an acquaintance vouched for him. No FIRs were registered against the attackers initially.

Naithani said after an “alert citizen” made the video, the matter came to light after which police teams swung into action and arrested the main accused, Bajrang Sonkar, who has more than a dozen criminal cases including that of murder, loot, theft and

arms act pending against him.

On his tip off, three others — Himanshu Garg, Aniruddh and Amar

Kumar — were also arrested on Thursday, the SSP said.

The attackers were initially booked under the Indian Penal Code and now non-bailable offences have also been included, Naithani said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the brutality.

“Nothing will do more damage to the idea of India in Jammu and Kashmir than videos like these,” he said in a series of tweets along with the video post.

“Keep thrashing Kashmiris like this on the streets at the hands of RSS/Bajrang Dal goons and then try to sell the idea of ‘atoot ang’ (unbreakable part), it simply won’t fly.”

He called upon Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to punish “those guilty of this assault”. Singh represents Lucknow in the Lok Sabha.

The central government has ordered authorities across the country to protect Kashmiris.—