On July 01, the last day of the Eid celebrations, a Muslim juice vendor was harassed and heckled by a group of Hindu women for his identity in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun.
Late afternoon, a group of 4 women halted at the ‘The Jungle Juice Corner’ located at Dehradun’s Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) on Shimla Bypass Road to drink juice but upon learning the Muslim identity of the juice vendor, the women started shouting and hurling abuses at the shop owner.
In a video shared on social media, women can be seen creating a ruckus on the spot.
One of those women can be heard saying “Hum Momdan ke haath ka nahi khate hain, thooka hua nahi peete hain (We don’t eat anything prepared by Muslims, we don’t eat spitted food).”
She further claims that the juice vendor told her that he is not a Muslim, but the Google Pay account says that he is a Muslim.
Juice shop owner Shoaib Ali told Maktoob, “We receive payments through UPI which is registered under my name, which is a Muslim name, we in any way cannot hide or fake our identities.”
He said that there is no need to hide their identity as they have been in the business for more than two decades and their customers are from all faiths.
“Most of our customers are non-Muslims and we have never faced any such attack or harassment ever since the shop is established. All the communities in the nearby area co-exist peacefully.”
“Some people standing at the shop during the incident also objected to the woman’s behaviour for creating a ruckus unnecessarily”, he added.
The juice vendor said that people who come to his shop don’t ask for his identity but come to quench their thirst and drink juice only. Ali asserted, “Such people only incite hatred, and they can’t win over love.”
Ali’s brother Suhail Ali was also inside the shop when the incident took place and he was wearing a skull cap.
“My brother was wearing that Muslim identity on his head, her claim that we coerced our identity is a complete lie”, said Ali, a pharmacy student, said.
The shop owner has given a written complaint to Dehradun ISBT Police against Radha Dhoni, Neelam and 2 other women.
The complaint states, “Radha Dhoni along with Neelam came to his shop and upon learning that I am a Muslim she started abusing me and hurled Islamophobic slurs calling me Jihadi and Mulle.”
“She also said that you spit in the food, why didn’t you tell me earlier”, the complaint further reads.
The complainant Zeeshan Ali also mentioned in the complaint that Radha Dhoni on July 3rd came again to the shop and threatened him to remove his shop or she will get it removed by force.
Spike in hate crimes
Maktoob tried to track the woman in the surfaced video and discovered a Facebook page ‘JP World Tv – a news and media website’. The page has a following of more than 40 thousand and innumerable videos of the woman. The bio of the page reads, “International Entertainment Channel!”
She runs the page herself which can be substantiated by the videos posted on the page.
The woman in the videos identifies herself as Radha Dhoni and calls herself Sanatani. In most videos, she can be seen spreading and inciting anti-Muslim Propaganda including ‘love-jihad’, ‘encroachment-jihad’, and ‘land-jihad’.
She is also a staunch supporter of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and makes live videos abusing Muslims and calling them ‘katwe and Mulle’ and leading violent rallies while raising slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’ Hindu slogan turned war cry against Muslims.
Last month the state of Uttarakhand witnessed a full-fledged hate campaign targeting and forcing the Muslim community out of the Yamuna Valley and violent calls for the extermination of the Muslims were made by the Hindu right-wing organizations, after an alleged abduction case which was presented as a case of ‘love-jihad’.
Locals residing around the juice shop call it an effect of the same hate campaign against the Muslim community.
A resident on a request of anonymity told Maktoob, “I have been living here for the last 15 years and have been drinking juice from the same shop but we never saw any misbehaviour from their side.”
He said, “Neither non-Muslims created any difficulties for the shop owners, I am witnessing this for the first time.”
“This is an effect of the hate planted by right-wing organizations and the violent attacks on the Muslim community, which unfolded last month in Purola and Uttarkashi district”, he added.
He also accused the right-wing organizations of economically boycotting Muslims as a part of their hate campaign.
