An 18-year-old Kashmiri shawl seller was assaulted by a group of people in Uttarakhand’s Vikas Nagar area on Tuesday evening, sustaining a fractured arm and head injuries, according to a student body representing Kashmiris.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) said the teenager was attacked after assailants questioned his identity and learned that he was a Muslim from Kashmir. Family members accompanying him were also allegedly beaten and dragged during the incident.
The victim was first taken to a local hospital and later referred to Dehradun’s Doon Hospital due to the severity of his injuries, the association said. He suffered bleeding from the head and multiple bruises, it added.
The JKSA described the incident as communal profiling and mob violence against a family selling shawls during the winter season to earn a livelihood. It urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to ensure a police case is registered and those responsible are prosecuted.
Pawan Khera, Congress spokesperson and senior leader, condemned the attack, saying that while Kashmiri shawls are celebrated as cultural symbols, the traders who sell them often face suspicion and violence.
“The irony is stark,” He wrote on X. “These are the same shawls that drape the shoulders of the Prime Minister and his courtesans, displayed at public events as symbols of culture and heritage. Kashmiri artistry is celebrated. Kashmiri aesthetics are embraced.”
Dehradun police said on X that in the incident, they had taken swift action by registering a case (FIR No. 26/2026) at Vikas Nagar police station under Sections 117(2)/352 BNS against Sanjay Yadav and another person. Yadav has been taken into custody, and necessary legal proceedings are underway, the police wrote