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Uddham Singh Nagar: A man was allegedly barred from building his house in Rudrapur city of Uttarakhand’s Uddham Singh Nagar by a ward councillor who claimed Muslims were not allowed to construct houses in the colony.

Asim Ansari purchased a registered plot of approximately 150 yards in Ward no 31, Ishwari Alliance Colony, in 2020. After six years, he initiated the construction.

“We bought it by saving every single penny; yet today, as we set out to construct upon it, Sachin Munjal and some of his associates are preventing us from carrying out work on our own land,” Ansari told reporters outside the police station after filing the complaint.

According to the complaint, the local councillor Sachin Munjal and his associate Vijay Arora, stopped them, saying, “We will not allow any Muslim to build a house here, and no Muslim shall reside in this lane or in this locality.”

They even asked him to sell his plot to them at a much lower price while stopping him from constructing a house on his own plot, Ansari claimed.

Death threats and abuses

Ansari said the councillor has disrupted the atmosphere by inciting and mobilising groups of people against him.

“Kuch logon ko badhakar unko ikkatta karke mahaull kharab karne ki koshish kar rahe hai. (They are spoiling the atmosphere by inciting and mobilising groups of people),” Ansari wrote in the complaint.

“They are also abusing, threatening to kill me and resorting to violence,” he said, adding that Munjal reportedly said, “Go and file a report against me, the police cannot do anything to me.”

Due to rise in tensions, the house’s construction officially halted on May 3 at around 9 am.

Both Arora and Munjal brought along with them five to ten people and attempted to physically assault Ansari, the complaint read. Separately, he showed a video where Munjal and his associates were seen opposing the house construction.

Ansari noted that while 150 Muslim people have built homes and lived in the colony for years, Munjal has singled him out and his family.

Complete trust in the law, Constitution: Ansari

“He (Sachin Munjal) has referred the matter to the Legislator. But we, too, have taken legal action, and I have complete trust in the law and the Constitution,” Ansari said.

He questioned the councillor’s credibility in preventing the construction. “Has being a Muslim become a crime these days? We purchased this plot with such high hopes and aspirations, and yet today Sachin Munjal is stopping us from starting work on our own land,” Ansari said.

He added that the police officers have given him “full assurance that strictest action will be taken,” reiterating that he has “full faith in the law.”