By Majid Nabi
Srinagar- Police on Wednesday filed an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and district development council (DDC) Srinagar member Aijaz Hussain Rather for allegedly assaulting a youth, besides harassing his family in Balhama area on the outskirts of Srinagar city.
The case against Rather, Member of Haj Committee of India, was registered a day after a family from Balhama assembled at Srinagar’s Press Enclave and staged a protest against alleged highhandedness by the DDC member.
Rather, the former National vice president of the party’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has been accused by the family of assaulting a male member and harassing others. He has also been accused of misusing his personal security guards in “unleashing a reign of terror” in Balhama and its adjoining areas.
The video of the family’s protest at Press Enclave on late Tuesday night went viral on micro-blogging sites like Facebook and Twitter evoking sharp criticism from the netizens.
“On the basis of complaint lodged by Nazim Hussain Bhat & Imdad Ali Mir, FIR no 51/2023 u/s 323,341 of IPC dated 30.05.2023 registered in Panthachowk PS against DDC member Aijaz Hussain Rather on offences of wrongful restraint & voluntarily causing hurt,” Srinagar police posted on its official Twitter handle.
Srinagar Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu, had alleged Rather had assaulted a civilian from Balhama area of the city.
“A reign of TERROR has been unleashed on the people of Balhama, Srinagar by the incumbent DDC Member belonging to @BJP4India! This is the second assault on a civilian by him in less than a month! Even WOMEN are being assaulted now under FULL security cover,” Mattu alleged in a tweet.
However, the BJP leader contested the allegations and said that the videos have been uploaded on social media with a malafide intention to defame him.
He alleged that the people who staged a protest on Tuesday night were actually land grabbers.
“They are rattled by the action of the administration and are now using females to escape from their wrongdoings. Today also one of their dairy farms was raided and it was found that all the tags were fake. These are the people who have filled more than 500 kanals of land and are demanding 5 Marla land as compensation,” Rather said in a statement.
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