Muslim barber, 2 more booked for molestation, forced conversion of minor girl in Uttarakhand's Tehri

New Tehri: A barber, his brother, and another man were arrested for allegedly molesting and forcing a minor girl to undergo religious conversion, police here said on Wednesday.

Salman, the barber, his brother, and a local named Rakesh Bhatt, who helped him elope with the girl, were arrested from Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, Tehri Senior Superintendent of Police Ayush Aggrawal said.

A complaint in connection with the incident was lodged Monday evening at Kirtinagar Police Station by the mother of the class 10 student, he said.

The woman accused Salman of molesting her daughter and trying to convert her. However, the same day around 11 pm, the girl vanished from her house, the officer said.

A team constituted immediately in the wake of her disappearance, traced the girl in about 15 hours, he said.

Salman was booked under the Uttarakhand Religious Freedom Act and the POCSO Act, Tehri Additional Superintendent of Police J R Joshi said.

After the girl's disappearance, locals vandalised several shops run by the Muslims and took out a demonstration from the Kirtinagar main market to Jakhani.

Since then, police have been deployed in the market area and people have been asked to maintain calm.