Tabish Khan, the Kashmiri teenager who was hit by an iron rod in Uttarakhand
The 17-year-old Kashmiri boy, who suffered serious head injuries when a shopkeeper hit him and his friend with an iron rod in Uttarakhand‘s Dehradun district, said they were targeted for being Muslims.
Tabish Khan, whose video went viral on social media platforms, spoke to FOEJ, refuting the claims of Reena Yadav, wife of prime accused Sanjay Yadav, that he and his other friend made suggestive remarks and used “bad language.”
“I did not even see her. I came to know about her allegations through the news. She is like my grandmother,” he said.
Tabish and his friend Danish, who are Kashmiri shawl vendors, had come to Yadav’s shop to buy some snacks. “We called Uncle Ji Uncle Ji many times, but no one came. We thought they were busy and decided to leave,” he said.
“But then the uncle came from inside and asked us what we were speaking. I told him we were conversing in our mother tongue,” he said.
Tabish said the shopkeeper, Sanjay Yadav, did to believe them. “He said we were abusing him. I replied to why we do that. You are like a father figure to us,” the teenager said.
Yadav asked where they were from. As soon as they replied that they were Kashmiri Muslims, Yadav said, “Yeh Uttarakhand hai, yahan Kashmiri nahi chalegi (This is Uttarakhand. Kashmiri is not allowed).”
He threw the shawls on the road.
When the boys asked why Yadav did that, the shopkeeper allegedly replied, “Yeh mulleh, katmulleh..Pahalgam mein hamarein Hindu bhaiyon pe hamala karvaya hai (You are Muslims. Your people attacked many of our Hindu brothers in Pahalgam).”
Yadav went inside his shop and came out with an iron rod.
“I was hit on my head with the rod. I instantly fell unconscious. I don’t remember anything after that,” Tabish recalls.
When asked if this was a repeated incident, the teenager replied that in the past, he had been subjected to verification processes and that was it.
Sanjay Yadav was arrested following the intervention of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
“This recent series of attacks, including in Himachal Pradesh and now this one, is 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,” The J&K Chief Minister said in a post.
This post was last modified on February 4, 2026 4:43 pm