Kashmiri shawl vendors slapped in Mussoorie, forced to shut shop
Dehradun (PTI): A video went viral on the social media here on Tuesday in which two Kashmiri shawl vendors in Mussoorie can be seen being slapped by a group of local men and forced to shut their shop.
In the video, they were seen being abused and slapped repeatedly by a group of three persons led by a bearded man and were asked to wind up and pack off. They were slapped a few times more after one of them produced an Aadhar card establishing his identity as an inhabitant of Jammu and Kashmir.
The three men who slapped the shawl vendors have been arrested, DGP Deepam Seth said.
Jammu and Kashmir Students Association national convenor Nasir Khuehami said, "We received deeply disturbing and chilling reports from Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, where two Kashmiri shawl sellers were brutally assaulted by members of the Bajrang Dal.
"Also, around 16 other Kashmiri traders, mostly from the Kupwara district, have been threatened, harassed, and forcibly evicted from their rented accommodations," he said.
Many of them have been doing business and selling shawls in Mussoorie for years, contributing to the local economy and living peacefully within the community, he said.
The three men apologised for their actions and promised they would not repeat such conduct in the future, Khuehami said, adding that legal proceedings are being initiated against them under the Police Act.
The accused identified as Suraj Singh, a resident of Post Kempty, Tehri Garhwal; Pradeep Singh, a resident of Hathipaon, Mussoorie; and Abhishek Uniyal, a resident of Company Garden, Mussoorie.
Around 16 Kashmiri shawl vendors from Mussoorie have now returned to the Kashmir valley, Khuehami said.
A video showing two #Kashmiri shawl sellers in #Uttarakhand’s #Mussoorie being harassed by three local men surfaced on social media on Tuesday, sparking widespread outrage.
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) April 29, 2025
The clip shows the men repeatedly slapping the vendors, hurling abuse, and forcing them to shut their… pic.twitter.com/kq7LSlTjkK
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
