Tensions flared in the Rajatalab area of Varanasi after a 16-year-old Muslim girl was allegedly harassed and assaulted by a group of kanwariyas, triggering a large-scale confrontation that ended with police filing charges not against the accused, but against members of the girl’s own family and local Muslim residents, the Wire reported.
The incident reportedly took place around 3 pm on July 28 at Rani Bazaar, where the girl was at her brother’s footwear shop with her grandmother. According to her family, a group of two to three kanwariyas forcibly entered the shop, used lewd language, and began groping her. When she resisted and tried to flee, the men allegedly exposed themselves to her in full view.
The girl ran towards her home, but was chased by the same group of kanwariyas wielding sticks, her family said. One of them allegedly followed her inside the house before being pulled out and beaten by bystanders who witnessed the episode.
Soon after, dozens of kanwariyas reportedly descended on the area, joined by local Hindu right-wing activists, including members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Residents said the group chanted “Jai Shri Ram” and blocked off a one-kilometre stretch, brandishing rods and sticks. The incident left the area’s small Muslim community feeling threatened and cornered.
By evening, the demonstration had brought traffic to a standstill. Police intervened and briefly detained VHP activist Rakesh Pandey after an altercation. However, what followed left the victim’s family stunned. According to relatives, police returned to their home later that evening and detained several male members of the family, including an 80-year-old heart patient.
On July 29, police filed an FIR not against the accused kanwariyas, but against seven Muslims from the locality, including members of the girl’s family. The charges include serious sections of the newly enacted Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, such as: Section 191(2) (rioting), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), Section 181(1) (causing hurt by dangerous weapons), Section 309 (violence or threat during a crime),Section 333** (house trespass with intent to cause harm), Section 351(2) (criminal intimidation), Section 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace).
In a controversial move, the police also invoked the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, alleging that the Muslim men who intervened when the kanwariya entered the girl’s home were attempting to forcibly convert him to Islam — a claim the family calls “baseless” and “absurd.”
Adding to local fears, residents say a bulldozer was brought into the narrow lane where the family’s footwear shop is located, though no demolitions have taken place so far. Locals allege this is a form of intimidation by authorities.
Civil rights activists and local leaders have expressed concern over what they describe as “communal targeting” and “police bias.” The girl’s family, meanwhile, says they are living in fear — not only of the men who harassed their daughter, but also of the state machinery that has turned against them.
No arrests have yet been made in connection with the initial harassment complaint.
