Kashmir dry fruit sellers attacked in Lucknow: One of the attackers beat the men with a wooden stick
A group of men belonging to a fringe right-wing group had on Wednesday attacked two dry fruit vendors from Kashmir on a busy road in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. One of the accused men shared a video of the assault on social media, sparking widespread outrage. The incident took place at 5 pm on Wednesday in central Lucknow's Daliganj area. The men who assaulted the traders can be heard in the videos saying they did so as they were from Kashmir.
One of the attackers beat the men with a wooden stick. In one of the videos, one of the Kashmiri men is seen covering his head and pleading the attackers to stop beating him.
Several local residents of Lucknow intervened and asked the men to stop further assault of the two vendors. "Don't take law into your own hands. Call the police," one the locals can be seen saying.
The Kashmiri men have been selling dry fruits in Lucknow for many years.
The main accused, who claims to be the president of the Vishwa Hindu Dal, has not been arrested and has been posting updates on Facebook. The video of the attack that he shared on Facebook has been taken down.
Here are the highlights after the attack of two Kashmiri vendors were attacked in Lucknow:
"These men just descended on us," one of the dry fruit sellers who was attacked in Lucknow, said
Two dry fruit vendors from Kashmir were attacked by men from a fringe right-wing group in Lucknow last evening, amid the nationwide backlash on Kashmiris following the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama. Four of the attackers have been arrested after videos of the attack were widely shared.
"This is a very unfortunate and one-off incident which has happened. We will crack down on such incidents with the entire force of the law. Nobody is above the law and nobody can target innocent citizens like this.... The strongest possible action will be taken to target innocent Kashmiris," senior police officer Anand Kumar told NDTV.
"These men just descended on us. They started beating us and calling us terrorists. We have been coming for 20 years. Something like this has never happened with us before," one of the dry fruit sellers said.
Four arrested after Kashmiri dry fruit sellers attacked in Lucknow
Four have been arrested by Lucknow police after two Kashmiri dry fruit sellers were attacked in Lucknow. All the arrested persons are members of the Vishwa Hindu Dal.
"Will you walk the talk...?" Asaduddin Owaisi tweets over attack on Kashmiri dry fruit sellers
Tagging the Prime Minister's Office's official Twitter handle and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office's official Twitter handle, Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, asking if they would "walk the talk and arrest" the persons responsible for the attack on the Kashmiri dry fruit vendors in Lucknow.
"Kashmiris are being hounded & punished," said Mehbooba Mufti in a tweet, over the attack on Kashmiri dry fruit sellers in Lucknow
"Kashmiris are being hounded & punished," said Mehbooba Mufti over the attack on Kashmiri dry fruit sellers in Lucknow.
"They have no fear & in fact uploaded the video on SM. GoIs conspicuous silence is actually a political tactic to encourage such elements & communalise the atmosphere until polls," she said in the tweet.
"The accused ran away from the spot. He was later arrested," says Lucknow SSP after the attack on Kashmir dry fruit vendors
The accused ran away from the spot after the attack on the Kashmir traders, said Lucknow's SSP Kalanidhi Naithani, in a press conference.
We were able to find the man, he said, adding that the search is on for the others.
The police official said that a local group, the Hindu Vishwa Dal was responsible for the attack.
"We want to send a strict message and any kind of unlawfulness will not be tolerated. The people of the trust have done so based on ideology. Until 2011, we have traced complaints of murder, loot and thievery," he said.
"They (the men who were attacked) are seasonal traders and residents of Kashmir," he added.
"Nothing will do more damage to the idea of India": Omar Abdullah tweets over the attack on Kashmir vendors in Lucknow
Omar Abdullah tweeted after the attack on the Kashmir vendors in Lucknow.
"Nothing will do more damage to the idea of India in J&K than videos like these," he said. "Keep thrashing Kashmiris like this on the streets at the hands of RSS/Bajrang Dal goons & then try to sell the idea of "atoot ang", it simply wont fly," he added.