CM Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered FIRs against 'misinformation' after pilgrims posted videos of being made to wait up to 15 hours for darshan at Kedarnath. The same day, footage went viral of Uttarakhand Police lathi-charging devotees stuck in those queues at Sonprayag. The official position is that both the queue and the lathi-charge are fake news.
Uttarakhand's Char Dham Yatra crowd-management strategy is a two-step program. Step one: if pilgrims are forced to wait up to fifteen hours for darshan without food, water, or information, blame the pilgrims who film it. Rudraprayag Police registered a third FIR this week against 'misleading' social media posts about the yatra, with CM Dhami personally directing 'immediate and strict legal action' against anyone discrediting the arrangements; earlier this month, 180 'fake' social media links were blocked under the same logic. Step two: if the queue misbehaves anyway, apply a lathi — a technique demonstrated on April 23 at Sonprayag, where police swung sticks at the very devotees they had just spent twelve hours ignoring. Both videos went viral on the same day, prompting the administration to clarify that the lathi-charge was legitimate crowd control while the complaint about it was unverified rumour. The state has yet to explain which crowd the police were controlling if the crowd, per the FIRs, does not exist.