Ruckus, FIR over Lord Ram posters at Dehradun store run by Muslim man

Ruckus, FIR over Lord Ram posters at Dehradun store run by Muslim man

Days after a video showing a group of people in Dehradun barging into a shop operated by a Muslim employee and forcefully removing posters of Hindu gods went viral, police on Thursday filed an FIR into the incident.

The 9.47-minute-long video shows a group of people creating ruckus in the shop and raising “Jai Shri Ram” slogans. A woman, identified as one Radha Semwal Dhoni, could be seen pointing at posters in the shop that have images of Lord Ram. The posters, which also had the name of the shop — Aman General Store — written on it, were then forcefully removed.

The woman could be heard saying in the video that if the store has been given to a Muslim man to run, the name should be changed. The owner of the store is a Hindu man.

“Change the name… and remove these pooja items. If you keep the name of our gods, then I will cut you up right here. Keep your own name, and if you want to join our religion, then do ghar wapsi,” the woman was heard telling the store employee.

Following the incident, an FIR was registered at the Patel Nagar police station against Radha Dhoni and her associates under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (public mischief).

According to Dehradun police officers, the group forcefully removed the shop’s sign board and religious posters.

According to a police statement, the owner of the shop is one Rakesh Borai, who gave it on rent to one Girish. The latter then hired one Shahnawaz, resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, to run the store. “While giving the said shop on rent, the shop owner had asked the tenant not to change the form and name of the shop, nor to remove any other item kept inside the shop,” the statement said.

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