Uttarakhand High Court Orders Police Action Against BJP Leader For Alleged Role In Communal Violence

A bench of Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay passed this order on a protection petition filed with by one Noor Jahan, the wife of a driver (Nasir) who was allegedly beaten on October 23 in Ramnagar over allegations of beef transportation.

The petitioner has claimed that Nasir's vehicle was allegedly stopped by a crowd incited by Madan Joshi, a local BJP leader and former President of the party's City Unit, Ramnagar and thereafter, he went live on Facebook and spread false claims that cow meat was being transported on that vehicle, which ignited the crowd and resulted in mob violence.

As per the petitioner, the mob allegedly dragged Nasir out of the vehicle, beat him with stones, blows and kicks and the violence was being streamed live on social media.

The petition asserts that police reached the scene belatedly and instead of immediately hospitalizing the injured man, took him to the police station.

Terming the incident as a glaring example of complete lawlessness, the plea adds that the same resulted into mob lynching and cow vigilantism in utter disregard of the directions issued by the Supreme Court in Tahseen S. Poonawalla case.

The petitioner seeks directions for CBI investigation, police protection for her family and strict enforcement of Supreme Court guidelines on mob lynching and hate crimes.

Noor Jahan has also sought compensation for her husband who is currently receiving treatment for severe injuries sustained due to the alleged assault. The plea submits that since the attack, she and her family have been receiving threats of dire consequences.

During the hearing of the matter, the counsel for the petitioner argued that Joshi is still posting live messages on Facebook and despite him being available, the police are deliberately omitting to initiate action on account of his political connections.

In view of this submission, the Court sought an action taken report by the IO by the next date of hearing. The IO has also been asked to immediately take action on any inflammatory posts made by anyone with regard to the incident and ensure that the same are pulled down/ removed from the social media platform.