Srinagar: Locals and Welfare Committee of Solina area in Srinagar on Friday refuted charges by police that a resident had violated the COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure at the wedding of his son.
On Thursday, police claimed that on September 10, Ghulam Nabi of Solina Payeen had “gathered a large number of invitees” and “created panic” by bursting firecrackers at his house.
Police said an FIR was registered against Bhat after “preliminary enquiry revealed that the blast like sound in Solina area that crated panic was due to the bursting of firecrackers in a marriage ceremony” at Bhat’s house.
But locals from the area including Welfare Committee Solina Payeen refuted the police charges saying that the Nikah ceremony of Bhat’s son was performed in the “most austere way possible”.
A statement by Welfare Committee Solina Payeen said that the Nikah of the groom was performed between Maghrib and Isha prayers on September 9 “purely with austerity in Masjid Sharief followed by Kehwa at bride’s home with a gathering of less than ten persons”.
Locals also called out the pictures uploaded by the Twitter handle of the Srinagar Police wherein a decorated house was passed off as Bhat’s.
The welfare committee said that neither Bhat’s house was decorated nor were any firecrackers burst. They also demanded that the FIR registered against Bhat be withdrawn.
A local from Solina Payeen alleged that the police had humiliated the families of both the bride and the groom without cross-checking facts despite them having followed all the SOPs regarding COVID-19 and performed the Nikah ceremony in the most austere way.

Reader correspondent