On the floor, life appears to have returned to regular within the small city of Purola, nestled among the many hills in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, after the chaos it witnessed last year. Acquainted faces had been again available in the market, which bustled with exercise – a stark distinction to the agitations and shuttered retailers seen final 12 months.
Beneath the floor, nonetheless, there have been deep, unhealed wounds for dozens of households who, regardless of having lived and executed enterprise within the city for many years, needed to flee as anti-”outsider” sentiment boiled over final 12 months within the aftermath of a single allegation that might not be substantiated in court docket.
On Could 26 final 12 months, a grievance by a 14-year-old woman’s maternal uncle accused two younger males, Ubaid Khan (25) and Jitendra Saini (24), of making an attempt to abduct his niece. This accusation sparked a wave of unrest in Purola, as allegations of “love jihad” ignited tensions.
Protest rallies organised by right-wing teams, the native merchants union, and a few residents referred to as for strict motion in opposition to the accused and demanded rigorous verification processes of these they deemed “outsiders”. Posters appeared in a single day, threatening Muslim merchants with dire penalties if they didn’t shut down their retailers.
The case, nonetheless, fell aside in court docket. The woman’s uncle admitted that his grievance was based mostly solely on what he had been advised by a neighbour, Ashish Chunar. Chunar, who had claimed to be an eyewitness, didn’t establish the accused in court docket and confessed he didn’t know in the event that they had been taking the woman someplace. Ubaid and Jitendra had been acquitted.
The injury executed to the connection between communities within the city was tougher to undo. A Muslim shopkeeper recounted how the incident pressured practically all the city’s 40 Muslim households to flee. Whereas most returned after a number of months, seven-eight households selected to depart Purola for good.
“Whereas every thing seems to be the identical as earlier than, on the within, we will sense a brand new dislike in direction of us. When all that was occurring final 12 months, my youngsters requested why the others had been abusing us. I didn’t have a solution then, I wouldn’t have a solution now. Those self same individuals who ignited all this come to my store now and act like nothing ever occurred. We additionally act like we’ve forgotten every thing and moved on,” stated the shopkeeper, who didn’t need to be named.
Throughout final 12 months’s unrest, the flex boards displaying his store title had been eliminated. He has not reinstalled the boards, and at current, the store doesn’t have a reputation.
His household had come to Purola in 1978 from Bijnor, and his store was one of many first few within the space, he stated. Three generations of his household lived right here, however now, typically, he appears like he ought to go away.
“That is my birthplace. I studied within the native Saraswati Shishu Mandir. Most of my buddies listed below are Hindus. I by no means felt like an outsider… However an incident, that too a wholly faux incident, modified our lives. Now, I don’t really feel like residing right here anymore. I really feel suffocated. I’ve began desirous about giving up my life and home right here and leaving city,” he stated.
Sitting alone at his tailoring store, 30-year-old Shahnawaz additionally recounted how his household was impacted. They’d bought their very own home within the Purola market space in 2004, a spot that his father had rented since 1992. Shahnawaz used to reside there together with his elder brother and his mom. However after the incident final 12 months, he offered the home.
“This place broke my mom’s coronary heart, and he or she was too scared to reside right here. For this reason she and my brother, Shahid, left for Vikas Nagar (a Muslim-majority locality) in Dehradun. I stayed right here to proceed my tailoring enterprise as it is extremely onerous to begin a brand new enterprise anyplace from zero. I’ve rented a small home and store. If one thing dangerous occurs once more, then it’s simpler to depart a rented place,” stated Shahnawaz.
His enterprise has additionally been hit. “We’re not often greeted by others. My enterprise has additionally gone down by round 50 per cent,” he stated.
The Muslim man who used to run a readymade garment store under Shahnawaz’s tailor store has shut down his enterprise completely and left city. One other garment store, which belonged to 1 Saleem Ahmad and was named after his father Shakeel Ahmad, has been renamed “Raghunath Clothes” underneath new possession.
Within the grievance that led to all this bother, the uncle of the 14-year-old woman had alleged that on Could 26 final 12 months, Ubaid Khan and Jitendra Saini had lured her to a store at Kumola Highway and was getting ready to take her away on the false promise of marriage when Ashish Chunar, the “eyewitness”, intervened and foiled the plan.
Nonetheless, Chunar advised The Indian Express that whereas he noticed two males with the woman and assumed that they had been abducting her, he had by no means named Ubaid and Jitendra.
“Somebody most likely heard from someplace that Ubaid and Jitendra had been seen with the woman,” Chunar stated.
In response to the court docket order of Could 10 acquitting the 2 males, the woman had testified that she had gone to the Purola market to get a kurti stitched and requested the 2 males the place the tailor’s store was and requested them to take her there. From there, Chunar got here and took her away, she stated, including, “The accused weren’t taking me anyplace. Relatively, they had been going with me to the tailor’s store once I requested.”
The order additionally famous that Chunar couldn’t recognise the 2 accused in court docket.
Chunar stated, “After the acquittal of the accused, my father scolded me, considering that I created pointless bother for 2 harmless males… Nonetheless, after court docket order got here, after they (the 2 accused) briefly crossed me, they thanked me for my assertion (during which the 2 weren’t recognized, resulting in their acquittal).”
Azeem (26), a cousin of Ubaid, who ran a furnishings store in Purola market, stated the case not solely tarnished his picture and stored him in jail for 2 months earlier than getting bail, but additionally ended the enterprise that he constructed over a number of years.
“His complete household, together with his mother and father, had been settled in Purola. However all of them have left the city for good. This case ruined his life,” stated Azeem.
