A video shows a marauding group of Kanwar travelers, wearing saffron towels, surrounding a car and interrogating its driver. The elderly driver, in white clothes and wearing a skull cap, was forced to exit the car. Soon, a burqa-clad woman is also seen coming out of the car
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — A group of Kanwar yatris (travelers) attacked the occupants of a car, damaged the vehicle and turned it upside down in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar on Tuesday. A viral video of the incident clearly shows the victims to be a burqa-clad woman and a man wearing a skullcap.
After the video surfaced on social media, the police in Haridwar denied any communal angle to the incident. They have filed an FIR on a complaint filed by the car owner, Pratap Singh, and arrested two persons.
The video shows a marauding group of Kanwar travelers, wearing saffron towels, surrounding a car and interrogating its driver. The elderly driver, in white clothes and wearing a skull cap, was forced to exit the car. Soon, a burqa-clad woman is also seen coming out of the car. The Kanwars then are seen smashing the car windows, front and rear windshields, damaging the vehicle and finally overturning it.
Some policemen are also seen at the spot, and the video shows them only as silent spectators.
Another video shows the yatris also pushing around the elderly man and thrashing him.
A Haridwar police statement later denied that the targeted couple was Muslim. It said the incident happened in Manglor area of Haridwar after the vehicle allegedly bumped into some Kanwar yatris.
“The incident has nothing to do with any community and Haridwar police have filed a report on the basis of car owner Pratap Singh’s complaint and arrested two accused. Legal action is being taken,” the police statement said.
It blamed some “miscreants” for spreading lies about the incident and said the police will take strict action against them.
However, people on social media shared the video claiming that the attacked couple is a Muslim given their attire.
Journalist Meer Faisal tweeted the video detailing the incident.
“Angry Kavadis passengers pulled down the Muslim car driver and thrashed him fiercely. The people present somehow saved the car driver, but the mob pulled down a woman in the car. After this, by raining sticks, the car was vandalised fiercely,” he said.
