New Tehri, October 30: A barber, his brother, and another man were arrested for allegedly molesting and forcing a minor girl to undergo religious conversion, police here said on Wednesday. Salman, the barber, his brother, and a local named Rakesh Bhatt, who helped him elope with the girl, were arrested from Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, Tehri Senior Superintendent of Police Ayush Aggrawal said.

A complaint in connection with the incident was lodged Monday evening at Kirtinagar Police Station by the mother of the class 10 student, he said. The woman accused Salman of molesting her daughter and trying to convert her. However, the same day around 11 pm, the girl vanished from her house, the officer said. Chamoli Rape Case: Locals Protest Over Rape of Minor Girl in Uttarakhand, Markets Shut Down (Watch Videos).

Locals Vandalise Shops in Protest at Kirtinagar Market 

A team constituted immediately in the wake of her disappearance, traced the girl in about 15 hours, he said. Salman was booked under the Uttarakhand Religious Freedom Act and the POCSO Act, Tehri Additional Superintendent of Police J R Joshi said. Dehradun Shocker: 17-Year-Old Boy Sexually Assaults Minor Girl in Yoga Hall of Private School in Rajpur Area, Arrested.

After the girl's disappearance, locals vandalised several shops run by the Muslims and took out a demonstration from the Kirtinagar main market to Jakhani. Since then, police have been deployed in the market area and people have been asked to maintain calm.