A Muslim man has been arrested in the Paithani area of Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district for allegedly sharing explicit photos and videos of a 21-year-old woman on social media, reported PTI on Wednesday.
The news agency did not clarify which faith the woman belongs to.
The man, identified as 24-year-old Shahnawaz Mirza, reportedly owns a barbershop in the Paithani village. He has been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
After the arrest, Muslim shopkeepers in the area kept their establishments closed on Wednesday.
Sufficient police force had been deployed in Paithani after the incident, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying.
The news agency quoted a senior superintendent of police as saying that the woman’s brother-in-law had filed a complaint against Mirza at the Paithani police station on Tuesday.
The relative claimed that the woman had left home without notifying anyone.
The police reportedly traced the woman to the town of Kotdwar. On being found, she told them that Mirza had shared explicit photos and videos of her on the social media platform Facebook, prompting her to flee her home, fearing public disgrace.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Pauri Garhwal district senior vice president Lakhpat Singh Bhandari visited Paithani and claimed that residents had given authorities a two-day ultimatum to file charges of forced religious conversion, rape, kidnapping and blackmail against Mirza.
