3 months after Bajrang Dal protest, ‘Mohammad’ Deepak and ‘Baba’ Ahmed struggle to move on

“People might act out in different ways, but it is better to suffer than be the aggressor. Even when the group shouted at me, I did not utter a word,” says Vakeel Ahmed, before he is seized by a bout of severe tremors. It’s been three months since Bajrang Dal activists gathered in front of his garment store in Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal district, heckling him for having ‘Baba’ in his shop’s name. The owner of a gym in the same town, Deepak, who happened to be nearby and took on the mob, has been f...