New Delhi: “This is not Kashmir, this is Uttarakhand”—a grocer had warned two Kashmiri Muslim shawl sellers visiting his shop during a communal altercation. As the exchange heated up, the grocer grabbed 17-year-old Tabish Ahmed and started thrashing him.
When his elder brother, Mohammed Danish (20), intervened, the attacker turned on him. Tabish attempted to save his brother from the blows, but another person, armed with an iron rod, hit Tabish’s head from behind, severely injuring him.
“Tabish was hit 10-12 times on the head with the iron rod. His shoulder was fractured, and he collapsed,” said Bashir Ahmed, the cousin of the two boys, speaking to ThePrint earlier this week. The 33-year-old Bashir said the communal taunts had continued during the assault, as one of the attackers casually commented, “They are Muslims. Beat one now; we’ll see the other later.”
This brutal attack took place in the Vikasnagar area of Dehradun Wednesday.
The story fueled massive outrage nationwide after graphic videos surfaced online, showing the young Tabish, his head wrapped up in gauze, sitting in a wheelchair. He, along with his brother, suffered several injuries, including head wounds and fractures.
Tabish was visiting Uttarakhand for his winter holidays, Bashir Ahmed said, narrating the horrors of the day. His family had been working as shawl vendors for over 20 years in Dehradun. On the day of the assault, Tabish’s father, Mohammed Yaseen, was away, so the 17-year-old insisted on accompanying his elder brother to work.
The brothers, later in the day, were on their way back to their accommodation when they stopped at the grocer’s, roughly three kilometres West of the Vikas Nagar police station, near Kakrati Doctor’s Shop on Dakpathar Road, Vikasnagar.
“While returning, Tabish stopped at a shop on Dakpathar Road to buy snacks. The shopkeeper initially ignored him. Seeing this, the two brothers began speaking in Kashmiri among themselves, saying that the shopkeeper was busy and that they should buy from the next shop instead. The shopkeeper misunderstood their conversation, came out angrily, and accused them of abusing him in the Kashmiri language,” Bashir told ThePrint.
The shopkeeper asked where the two were from, and after the duo identified themselves as Kashmiri Muslims, it all went downhill. Residents eventually intervened to break the attackers’ grip on the brothers and took them to a nearby hospital. From there, the duo was transferred to a private hospital in Dehradun for further treatment.
By then, local community members had gathered at the Vikasnagar police post, demanding justice for the brothers and chanting against hate.
After the incident, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, urging strict action against the perpetrators.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Dehradun) Ajay Singh has confirmed that a heated argument led to the assault, with one suspect detained initially.
On 29 January, the police formally arrested the suspect, shopkeeper Sanjay Yadav, after registering an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 117(2) and 352 for assault and insult, respectively. Another suspect named in the FIR is currently absconding.
The attack has underscored a harsh reality—responding to a simple “where are you from?” can turn deadly now. Bashir said Kashmiris are often stopped and asked for their identity cards. They are told, ‘You are Muslim. You are from Kashmir. Go to Pakistan. Go to Bangladesh’, he added.
But India, asserted Bashir, is not the property of anyone’s father. “From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, we have the right to go anywhere. Our Constitution does not allow us to raise our hand on anyone, force someone to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’, or attack someone because of identity.”
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Hate crimes
Wednesday’s attack isn’t isolated and has reignited fears of rising hate crimes against Kashmiri migrants, more than eight months after the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack. It had triggered incidents of assault on Kashmiri traders in Uttarakhand. For instance, the attack on a 28-year-old Kashmiri shawl seller in Kashipur by Bajrang Dal activists on 25 December.
During Wednesday’s incident, the shopkeeper reportedly referenced Pahalgam upon coming to know that the brothers were Kashmiri Muslims before he went on to beat them up.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has decried the incident as part of a “recent series of attacks” on Kashmiris and vowed his government’s support to the victims, while calling for a sensitisation campaign in different states by the Union Home Ministry.
“It can’t be claimed that J&K is an inalienable part of India while people from Kashmir, in other parts of the country, live in fear for their lives. My government will step in wherever necessary & will do whatever is needed to ensure these incidents are not repeated. I hope the Home Ministry, Govt of India, will also sensitise other states on the same lines,” Abdullah has posted on X.
Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) convener Nasir Khuehami has pressed the Uttarakhand Director General of Police to give the victims justice, highlighting the communal profiling of Kashmiri traders in Uttarakhand.
In his police complaint, Danish said that he was in the Vikasnagar area with Tabish to sell shawls and suits. When he went to a shop near Dakpathar Road to buy salt, the shopkeeper asked him where he was from, and he said he was from Kashmir.
“Soon after,” according to the FIR, “the shopkeeper, along with two unknown persons, began abusing the brothers using filthy and caste-based slurs. The shopkeeper and the two men then assaulted both of them with sticks and iron rods, causing injuries to their heads.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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