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Kangra: A Kashmiri shawl seller was allegedly harassed in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra and accused of carrying an AK-47 rifle instead of shawls on Sunday, February 1.

Surjeet Rajput Guleria livestreamed the entire incident on Facebook and is known to post similar videos in which he claims to “check” the identities of hawkers and tells those with Muslim names that they are not permitted to conduct business in the area.

The Kashmiri shawl seller, Mohammed Ramzan, was allegedly threatened and given an ultimatum to leave the state.

According to Article 14, the police had called Ramzan for details of the harassment. “They assured me that the accused will be summoned, but didn’t register any FIR (first information report),” Ramzan said.

However, the police said that Guleria does not target Kashmiri hawkers. “He does this (asks questions and livestreams it on his Facebook account) with all non-locals, including those from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” the SHO said.

In the past month alone, there were several reports of Kashmiri Muslims being assaulted, harassed, and violently beaten in some cases.

In Mohammed Ramzan’s case, Guleria, who is reportedly a former soldier, repeatedly asks the shawl seller, “Tum army wale ko kyun bolte ho aap apne desh mein jao.” (Why do you tell the army to go back to their own country?)

Ramzan can be heard initially trying to appeal to Guleria in the video, saying “Bhaicharia (brotherhood), everyone are brothers, why would we ask you to go to another country, we are all Indians.”

Guleria, triggered by the word brotherhood, then brings up the Kashmiri pandits, accusing Ramzan of treating pandits wrongfully, and further said there might be a rifle hidden in his stock.

Even after being shown the permission letter, Guleria continued to harass them, questioning their right to be in the state and making provocative remarks about religion.

The Kangra police were unavailable for comment when Siasat.com contacted them.