Tension grips Uttarakhand town over girl's 'conversion'

DEHRADUN: Several shops owned by members of a minority community were ransacked in Tehri Garhwal’s Kirtinagar town on Tuesday after news spread that a local man (in his early 20s), identified by his first name Salman, had allegedly abducted and converted a 16-year-old girl, reports Kalyan Das.

Right-wing groups took out a rally after learning that the girl had gone “missing” from her home on Monday.

She was found in Najibabad, UP, on Tuesday and two men — Salman and his aide — were arrested. A case was registered under Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act and Pocso Act “for molesting and converting her”.

A cop told TOI that teachers of the girl’s school called her mother on Saturday and informed her that she was talking about Islam with her classmates while asking them to ‘think about accepting the religion’. Later, while digging further, it was also found that she was running an account on Instagram under a Muslim girl’s name and was uploading posts related to the faith.”