A large number of Nainital residents, including teachers and lawyers, have been organising dharnas for two days against the alleged rape of a minor girl in Tallital earlier this week, with the crime acquiring a communal colour in the thick of the tourism season.
All restaurants remained closed in Tallital and adjoining Mallital, where the majority of tourists stay. Schools, colleges and the Kumaun University campus didn’t open for the second consecutive day.
Hindutva groups have tried to give the crime a communal colour. Mohammad Usman, 60, a civil contractor, is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl from the majority community on Tuesday night when her parents were away.
Protesters ransacked shops owned by Muslims on Wednesday night. They also damaged the vehicles of the shopkeepers. As the police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd, some BJP leaders joined the protest.
Nitin Karki, the president of the Nainital town unit of the BJP, and some members of the Sri Ram Sewa Dal organised a dharna at Kotwali police station on Wednesday night and demanded that Usman be handed over to them.
Karki said that the protesters were against the conduct of the medical examination of the girl at a particular hospital because a relative of the accused worked there.
Expressing his support for the protesters, Maruti Shah, president of the Nainital Vyapar Mandal, said: “It is a disturbing incident. We all are concerned about the safety of the children. There are different groups of protesters but they all will continue their protest because they believe that someone helped Usman in committing the crime.”
“There is anger in the people and we must stand by them. We know that it is a tourist spot and so we have opened stalls at several places in the town where free food packets will be available as long as the restaurants are closed,” Shah said.
Pramod Shah, the circle officer of the area, said: “The protesters had submitted a memorandum with the administration on Wednesday and we told them today that we have accepted their demands.”
“The accused has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the medical examination of the victim was done by a panel of doctors,”
he added.