Four accused of beating up Kashmiri vendors in Lucknow arrested

IANS  |  Lucknow 

The four men of a rightwing fringe outfit, who assaulted two Kashmiri dry fruit sellers here on Wednesday after calling them "stone-pelters", have been arrested, police said on Thursday.

Sonkar, who was arrested earlier, is affiliated to the Vishwa Hindu (VHD) and has a dozen criminal cases registered against him including one of murder, of Police Kalanidhi Naithani said.

The attackers were initially booked under the Indian Penal Code, but non-bailable offences have also been included now, he added.

The officials also said that the victims - and - have been assured of security to carry out their business and have been provided medical care and compensation for the losses they incurred.

The attack took place on Wednesday when a group of saffron-robed youths came out of a car and pounced on the two Kashmiri men, who were selling dry fruits on the

One of the Kashmiri men told the media that they were sitting quietly when the men came and started beating them up, adding that such a thing has never happened to them earlier.

The attackers called the victims "stone-pelters" and asked them to produce their Aadhaar cards. The obliged but the attackers continued to beat them and flung away their wares.

It was after some passers-by intervened and called the police that the were saved.

No FIRs were registered against the attackers initially. It was only after a video of the incident went viral on the that police did so.

Former Chief Minister condemned the brutality. "Nothing will do more damage to the idea of in than videos like these," he said in a series of tweets along with the video post.

"Keep thrashing like this on the streets at the hands of RSS/goons and then try to sell the idea of 'atoot ang' (unbreakable part), it simply won't fly."

He called upon Rajnath Singh, who is also the MP, to punish "those guilty of this assault".

--IANS

md/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, March 07 2019. 22:02 IST