Pulwama: Case against Chickpet shopkeepers for shutdown

Forcing shutdown of business activity in the city's Pete areas in protest against the Pulwama attack has resulted in a criminal case against traders.

On Saturday, around 300 traders from BVK Iyengar Road and other shopping hubs in Chickpet gathered at the Town Hall to extend support to the Indian Army. While many traders had voluntarily shut up shop and were protesting peacefully, some of them forced non-participants to down shutters, too. Traders not willing to shut up shop were threatened with dire consequences despite giving donations and participating in the protest.

Taking note of the matter, police have booked unidentified traders for unlawful assembly and rioting. B Maruthi, the inspector of the City Market police station, is the complainant in the case.

"We are reviewing the CCTV footage to identify the miscreants who forced the shopkeepers to shut up shop," a senior police officer said. "We will track them down soon."

Another officer said the protesters also raised slogans that created a fear psychosis among traders and posed a threat to law and order.

Police also maintained that the flash protest organised by the traders was "illegal".

The traders' associations, however, claimed that they had taken police permission for the protest. The associations collected about Rs 1.9 crore in donations, which would be sent to the army welfare fund.