FIRs Lodged After Assault on Kashmiri Shawl Sellers in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana

New Delhi: Two separate FIRs have been lodged in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana following incidents of assault on Kashmiri shawl sellers, the latest in a slew of such similar incidents. 

In Himachal Pradesh, the FIR was registered on the complaint of Abdul Ahad Khan, a shawl vendor from Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, reported The Indian Express. Police said that the accused were wearing masks and arrived on a motorcycle, following which they assaulted the shawl seller leading to his goods being damaged.

“Efforts are underway to identify the three suspects. CCTV footage from the Ghumarwin main market is being examined to trace the accused and the motorcycle they were riding,” Sandeep Dhawal, Superintendent of Police (SP), Bilaspur, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The FIR was registered after the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s intervention. The JKSA said that it was the 17th such incident in the state in 2025.

"Dozens of Kashmiri shawl sellers, who have been working in Himachal Pradesh for over 25-30 years, are now being harassed, assaulted, and threatened to leave the state in the Ghumarwin area of Bilaspur district by right-wing groups. This is the 17th such incident occurred in Himachal Pradesh this year," wrote Nasir Khuehami, JKSA national convenor on X.

"They have been threatened and told to leave the state, not allowed to sell their shawls, their belongings have been vandalised, and even their mobile phones were smashed when they tried to record these incidents. Despite having proper verification and valid documents, they are being prevented from carrying out their business, and their landlords are being pressured to evict them."

Meanwhile, in Haryana, an FIR was registered after an assault on a Kashmiri shawl seller in Kaithal district. 

In Kaithal district’s Kalayat a video purportedly showed a local man speaking in Haryanvi dialect confronting the vendor sitting on a concrete bench asking him to chant “Vande Matram”. The man spoke about the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh and asked the vendor to leave immediately, threatening to set him ablaze, Express reported.

SP (Kaithal) Upasana told reporters that the police took “suo motu cognisance of the manner and registered the case immediately”.

In another incident in Fatehabad incident, another video surfaced that showed a man holding a Kashmiri vendor by his collar and asking him to chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Sidhant Jain, Fatehabad SP told reporters that both the vendor and the man were brought to the police station and the man was counselled, and the vendor was asked to file a formal complaint.

On Wednesday, Khuehami said that there is "growing reign of terror against Kashmiri shawl sellers and traders across several North Indian states."

"There is a growing reign of terror against Kashmiri shawl sellers and traders across several North Indian states, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. In just the past ten days, more than a dozen incidents of intimidation, harassment, threats, and violence have occurred. This is not an isolated phenomenon but a systematic and dangerous pattern of targeted harassment," he said.

Urging Shah to intervene, he said an end  must be brought to this growing pattern of harassment and violence against Kashmiri traders across North India and "ensure the prompt identification and arrest of those responsible, so that a clear and strong deterrent is established."

Earlier this week The Wire reported that a suspected Bajrang Dal man had been arrested along with his associates in connection with a brutal assault on a Kashmiri shawl seller in Uttarakhand that prompted widespread outrage in J&K.

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