Kanwar yatra group attacks school bus over brushing against belongings
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Violence erupted in Meerut during the Kanwar Yatra when a group of Kanwariyas attacked a school bus, smashing its windshield with rods and sticks after accusing the driver of brushing against their belongings.
The incident, captured on video and circulated online, showed the pilgrims vandalising the vehicle while the driver was still inside.
This is the latest in a series of violent events tied to the Kanwar pilgrimage in Uttar Pradesh.
On July 3, a tempo driver was brutally beaten by pilgrims after his vehicle reportedly hit an auto carrying Kanwariyas. The man suffered severe injuries, including broken legs, and was hospitalised.
In another incident last week, an eatery in Muzaffarnagar was targeted after onions were served in a meal, allegedly offending the pilgrims.
Amid rising tensions and concerns about communal targeting, the Supreme Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to a petition challenging its controversial QR code directive. The state recently mandated that all food outlets along the Kanwar Yatra route display QR codes revealing the names and identities of owners.
A bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued a notice to the state on July 15 and scheduled the next hearing for July 22. The petition, filed by academic Apoorvanand Jha and others, argued that the new rule enables discriminatory profiling under the guise of regulatory compliance.
Jha referenced a June 25 press release by the state government, calling the QR code measure a continuation of earlier efforts to enforce identity disclosures - measures previously stayed by the court in 2023. At that time, similar directives in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh were put on hold by the Supreme Court for promoting religious profiling.
The current plea stresses that forcing food stall owners to disclose caste or religious identities violates their fundamental right to privacy and is not justifiable under lawful licensing norms.
