Dehradun: A day after a shopkeeper was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 17-year-old Kashmiri youth with an iron rod in Uttarakhand, his wife has come forward claiming the attack was triggered after the teenager and his friend made suggestive remarks and used “bad language.”
“Two boys came to my shop and asked for some snacks. I could not understand their language, and they used bad words,” Reena Yadav, wife of accused Sanjay Yadav, told local media.
She alleged that when she asked them to leave, they held her hand.
“We have so many Muslim customers coming to our shop, why would we ever assault someone because they are Muslim?” Reena asked. “Our business runs with their help, why would we ever do that?”
She asserted that her husband was only trying to stop the assault. “Should he have remained idle and witnessed his wife getting harassed like that?”
They verbally abused me, used bad language,” she reiterated.
When asked to clarify if the assault was based on hatred against Kashmiris due to the Pahalgam attack in April 2024, she denied saying her priority is selling goods.
“Hum saman beche ki Pahalgam ka muddhaa uthakar bethna hai waha, (We only want to sell our goods, why would we raise the Pahalgam issue)” Reena said.
The teenager’s assault
The boy and another friend had gone to purchase chips from a grocery store in Vikas Nagar area. While discussing in their native Kashmiri language what else to buy, Sanjay, from the adjacent shop, asked if they were Muslims and accused them of using curse words.
When the boys denied that, he allegedly came out and hit the Kashmiri boy with the iron rod. The attack was so severe that the profusely bleeding child was rushed to a hospital, where he underwent around 15 stitches on the back of his head. He also suffered from a broken hand.
A video of the teenage boy has emerged on social media, where he said he was reportedly beaten up solely for his religious identity. “Unhone bole, ‘Yeh Muslamaan hai, isko maao‘ (They said, ‘He is a Muslim, beat him up),” he said.
Sanjay was arrested following the intervention of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
“Dhami assured that strict action, including registration of an FIR, would be taken in the matter and safety of J&K residents will be ensured,” the Office of the Chief Minister, J&K, said in a post on X.
Abdullah separately posted, “This recent series of attacks, including in Himachal Pradesh and now this one, are unacceptable and must stop. It can’t be claimed that J&K is an inalienable part of India while people from Kashmir, in other parts of the country, live in fear for their lives.”
“My Government will step in wherever necessary & will do whatever is needed to ensure these incidents are not repeated. I hope the Home Ministry, Govt of India, will also sensitise other states on the same lines,” Abdullah added.
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