India rights body probes attacks on Kashmiri vendors, students
Complaint alleges Kashmiri traders were driven from towns where they had worked for decades while students faced housing bias
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — India’s national human rights watchdog has opened a case into allegations that Kashmiri traders and students from Indian-administered Kashmir faced harassment, discrimination and violent attacks in several parts of the country.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) registered the matter after receiving a complaint from the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA), which documented incidents involving shawl sellers and students in states including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
According to the association, Kashmiri shawl vendors were assaulted, threatened and publicly humiliated while carrying out their businesses. In many instances, traders were forced to abandon areas where they had lived and worked for years because of fear and intimidation.
The complaint also detailed allegations from Kashmiri students who reported being denied accommodation, subjected to communal profiling and facing threats and harassment in educational institutions and residential settings.
JKSA said repeated appeals to local authorities and police had often failed to provide a sense of security to those affected, leaving many to continue their studies and livelihoods under what it described as an atmosphere of uncertainty.
The NHRC has formally registered the complaint as Case No. 684/90/0/2026 and is expected to seek reports from the governments and police authorities of the states concerned. Those reports are likely to include information on police complaints filed, arrests made, action taken against alleged perpetrators and measures introduced to prevent similar incidents.
The intervention by the rights body comes against the backdrop of longstanding concerns among Kashmiris about hostility and stereotyping in India.
Thousands of Kashmiris travel across India each year to pursue higher education, seasonal employment and trade. Kashmiri shawl sellers, known for marketing traditional woolen garments and handicrafts door-to-door and in temporary markets, have long formed part of this mobile workforce.
The students association welcomed the NHRC’s decision to examine the allegations, saying it hoped the process would lead to accountability where authorities failed to protect vulnerable individuals.
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