The rights group disputes police claims that 400–500 ‘I love Muhammad’ procession participants attacked officers and damaged vehicles, demands judicial inquiry
NEW DELHI – Prominent civil rights group the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) on Friday alleged that in the BJP -ruled Uttarakhand’s Kashipur town the police and the local administration committed large-scale excesses on Muslims following a clash on September 21 during the “I Love Muhammad” procession. The group demanded an impartial inquiry into the whole incident.
It is to be noted that the “I Love Muhammad” campaign started from Kanpur in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and spread to many parts of the country.
In its fact-finding report, “Kashipur Silenced: Punitive Policing and the Burden of Dissent”, APCR disputes police claims that 400–500 participants attacked officers and damaged vehicles. Eyewitnesses told the team the procession ended peacefully, and that only a handful of minors remained when police intervened with harassment, abusive language, and a lathi-charge.
According to the report, clashes broke out in Kashipur during the procession led by Nadeem Akhtar and others through the Alikhan area. Police claimed the procession was unauthorised and that 400–500 participants attacked officers and damaged government vehicles. Local residents, however, maintained it was a peaceful religious march and alleged that police harassed and used force against minors who remained at the site after the procession ended.
The incident led to the arrest of seven people, including Nadeem Akhtar, and FIRs were filed against nearly 500 individuals. In its aftermath, authorities launched a sweeping crackdown targeting the Muslim-majority ward — bulldozing 20–25 shops, forcing the installation of smart electricity meters, conducting door-to-door ration card verification, issuing sudden house tax notices, and detaining children as young as 10–12 in juvenile facilities. Residents described these measures as the “Haldwani model” of collective punishment, recalling the February 2024 incident in Haldwani when police firing during protests over the demolition of a mosque and madarsa left several people dead.
In the days following the FIR against the “I Love Muhammad” procession, a series of swift administrative actions were carried out in Kashipur, raising concerns that they were punitive in nature. Beginning September 22, District Magistrate Nitin Singh Bhadauriya led an anti-encroachment drive in the Alikhan area, where bulldozers demolished over 200 shops, residences, and commercial structures. Electricity officials replaced or altered metres in homes and shops, while the District Development Authority threatened to raze more properties over alleged illegal construction. The Pollution Control Board issued multiple challans and notices, and government staff went door to door verifying ration cards, warning residents of cancellations if documents were incomplete, the report said.
The actions have created an atmosphere of fear, with locals now reluctant to speak out or seek legal recourse.
The report accuses authorities of using the incident as a pretext for sweeping reprisals. Nearly 500 people, including children as young as 10, were named in FIRs and detained. Bulldozers razed 20–25 shops and stalls, mostly in the Muslim-majority Alikhan area. Residents also reported custodial abuse of minors and a spate of selective administrative actions, such as forced installation of smart metres, ration card verification, and sudden house tax notices.
APCR says the crackdown has created a climate of fear, leaving locals unwilling to speak to the media or seek legal recourse. It warns that the measures mirror the “Haldwani model” of collective punishment and signal a deeper erosion of constitutional rights.
The civil rights group has called for an impartial judicial inquiry into the Kashipur events and immediate safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of residents.
