Communal tension erupted in Nainital on Wednesday night after a 65-year-old man was arrested for the alleged rape of a minor girl, police said.
Members of the majority community pelted stones and vandalised a few shops belonging to those from the minority community.
A first information report (FIR) was registered on Wednesday against a building contractor for allegedly raping a minor girl in his car on April 12. The FIR was registered under section 65 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) at Mallital police station after which the accused was arrested.
The situation flared up after the members of the majority community came to know about the case. According to police, the majority group began to vandalise shops after knowing that the accused belonged to the minority community.
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Police, however, said that the situation was brought under control.
Superintendent of police (SP), crime, Jagdish Chandra said, “We brought the situation under control at around 12:30am. Heavy deployment of police is in place. We will not allow anybody to take the law into their hands and strict action will be taken if anybody does so.”
Chandra apprised the media of the sequence of events which unfolded on Wednesday night.
“On Wednesday, we received a complaint from the minor girl’s family that she was raped by Usman, who is a building contractor and lives in their neighbourhood, in his car by luring her with some money. According to the family, the incident took place on April 12. The minor girl lives with relatives and her mother lives in Sambhal of Uttar Pradesh. She told her mother about the incident on Wednesday. We immediately registered the FIR on the complaint and arrested the accused”, Chandra said.
“As locals came to know about the crime, they first gathered at the Mallital police station. They then pelted stones at shops belonging to the Muslim community in Gaadi Padav area and beat up some men. The stones were also pelted at the gate and walls of the Jama Masjid. We brought the situation under control at around 12:30am and dispersed the crowd.”
“We are gathering visuals of the individuals who were part of the crowd, involved in stone pelting. We will also take action against them after their identification,” he said.
According to police, a medical examination of the girl has been conducted but the report is awaited.
The accused will be produced in a local court on Thursday.
