Raj Kumar at his shop; Nasim Khan on his terrace

Auto driver-turned-vegetable vendor Nasim Khan (52) says he is scared to set up shop at Jamshedpur’s Ghodabandhar Maidan. He says he was forced to leave the maidan five days ago by a group of men who had abused him for his religion, and alleged that his co-religionists were spreading the novel coronavirus infection.

After he complained to police, Khan says, an FIR was registered. But he remains afraid that the men would retaliate.

The lockdown forced Khan to try to sell vegetables for a living. “I could no longer ply my autorickshaw, and I decided to sell vegetables in order to survive. For about a month I managed some modest sales. But suddenly one day, all the vendors were asked to move to a field nearby. That was when my troubles started,” Khan, who lives in Jharna Basti in Govindpur, told The Indian Express over the phone.

The group of men showed up soon after he moved to the maidan, Khan said. “When they found out my religion, they asked me to leave. They threatened to throw away my vegetables. No one came to my help. Silently, I left,” he said.

Police registered a case under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs). But no one was arrested because the men could not be identified.

The following day, Khan sent his son to the same place to check the situation. “My son informed me that a group of men had again started gathering. I feared for his life, and I asked him to come back. I don’t want to go there anymore. I have heard stories of people being beaten up. My family is dependent on me and I can’t afford to take the risk,” Khan said.

Having left the maidan, the only option for Khan was to try to sell vegetables within his locality, but sales have been poor, he said. “I sold 2 kg of onions and a watermelon yesterday. I took a loan of Rs 4,000 recently to buy vegetables in bulk. I now dry most of the vegetables on my roof every day to prevent them from rotting. Several police officers have asked me to start my business again, but I am scared. I have been seeing on TV all that has been happening; it is now happening to me,” Khan said.

While for Khan the only hope is for the pandemic to end and, with it, the troubles that it has brought to his community to recede, 15 km from Ghodabandhar in the Kadma area, another vendor has a very different story to tell.

For about a month, Raj Kumar, 45, had been tying a banner at his fruit shop that read, “Vishwa Hindu Parishad ki anumodit Hindu phal dukaan (A Hindu fruit shop approved by the VHP)”. Then, someone on Twitter tagged the Jharkhand authorities.

On April 25, Jamshedpur Police posted on Twitter that the banner had been removed, and preventive action had been initiated against Raj Kumar under Section 107 CrPC (security for keeping the peace).

Kumar told The Indian Express that he “respected the VHP” because it “worked for the Hindu community”, and he had, therefore, liked the idea of putting up the banner. However, he said, “I never discriminated against any religion… I sold to Hindus as well as to Muslims.

“But suddenly one day somebody tweeted about it, and the police showed up, removed the banner, and said that a case had been registered. I was scared… For two days I made rounds of the local police station.”

Kumar claimed that ever since the picture of his fruit stall went “viral”, he had been receiving “threatening calls” because his number was on the banner. “I am being harassed,” he said. He has filed a complaint to the police, he said.

Former Chief Minister Raghubar Das has assured Kumar that there would be no action against him for putting up the banner. In a release, Das said: “As per the Indian Constitution, people have the right of freedom of religion… In Jharkhand, UPA government is doing appeasement politics and torturing Hindus amidst COVID-19.”

Jharkhand VHP Prachar Prasar Pramukh Sanjay Kumar said: “The posters were given by the VHP, but it has been done on earlier occasions like the Puja festival, too. In this case it was done 20 days ago. We condemn the police action.”

Jamshedpur SSP Anoop Birtharay said: “Under the National Disaster Management Act and the Municipal Corporations Act, the government will approve the shops that can operate during the crisis… VHP cannot approve a shop. If we allow it, then some other organisation will approve mutton shops… this cannot happen.”

Also, the SSP said, “During this crisis, customers of essential commodities cannot be attracted on the grounds of religion. We need to maintain social harmony. All these things are done by design. We have taken preventive action to maintain peace.”