{"id":179195,"date":"2025-07-16T17:54:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=179195"},"modified":"2025-07-16T17:54:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:54:29","slug":"protests-erupt-in-bandiporas-sumbal-area-against-former-bjp-sarpanch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/07\/16\/protests-erupt-in-bandiporas-sumbal-area-against-former-bjp-sarpanch.html","title":{"rendered":"Protests erupt in Bandipora\u2019s Sumbal area against former BJP sarpanch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Srinagar: Protests erupted in Sumbal area of Bandipora district in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) against harassment, extortion, and intimidation by former BJP sarpanch (village head) Mehraj Rather, who has recently rejoined the saffron party.<\/p>\n

According to Kashmir Media Service, chanting slogans, dozens of tipper owners and contractors said that Mehraj had unleashed a reign of fear in the area by threatening contractors at worksites, forcibly demanding money, and obstructing daily operations. \u201cHe openly threatens to burn our tippers if we don\u2019t pay. Is this democracy?\u201d said an angry tipper operator.<\/p>\n

Protesters also said Mehraj is already facing multiple police cases, including those related to extortion, fraudulent electricity concessions, and fake job appointments. \u201cWith fresh evidence emerging, his criminal conduct stands fully exposed,\u201d the contractors said.<\/p>\n

Public anger intensified following Mehraj\u2019s return to the BJP. \u201cIs this the the leadership BJP wants to promote? He\u2019s turning governance into gangsterism,\u201d said another protester.<\/p>\n

Adding to the outrage are reports that Mehraj illegally felled over 600 walnut trees, a serious violation as cutting walnut trees is banned in IOJK.<\/p>\n

Protesters demanded immediate and strict legal action, urging authorities to hold Mehraj accountable and end what they described as unchecked political impunity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar: Protests erupted in Sumbal area of Bandipora district in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) against harassment, extortion, and intimidation by former BJP sarpanch (village head) Mehraj Rather, who has recently rejoined the saffron party. According to Kashmir Media Service, chanting slogans, dozens of tipper owners and contractors said that Mehraj had unleashed a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protests"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}