On Tuesday (September 27) night, a miscreant broke into a Bhagwan Hanuman temple and vandalized the murti of the chief deity in Jharkhand’s Ranch. The incident occurred in Ranchi’s Hindpuri Police Station area and was discovered by the locals who saw the vandalized murti the following morning.
Media reports suggest that on September 28 morning, when Vicky Vishwakarma went to clean the temple, he found its lock broken. Upon entering the temple, he observed that the forehead of Bhagwan Hanuman’s murti was damaged and the mace was also broken.
A large crowd of locals gathered at the temple after learning about the vandalism. They filed a police complaint, and an investigation was started. Upon checking the CCTV footage, the identity of the miscreant was revealed as Rameez Ahmed.
Though the police immediately arrested Ahmed, they soon started to claim that he was mentally unstable. But the locals were not convinced by this reasoning provided by the police. Some locals told Aaj Tak that Ahmed had not even touched the donation box and the silver crown.
Speaking to the news channel, the residents have shared that though the police alleged that the accused is mentally unstable, his specific targeting of the murtis raises several doubts. They also informed that earlier that night, when Hindu residents in the area were discussing Durga Puja preparations, some radicals had raised their religious slogans to provoke them.
This temple has been a common target of Islamists. Back on June 10, a radical mob had pelted stones at this temple. This happened amidst the tension that spiralled over alleged derogatory remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Mohammed on a televised debate. In order to maintain peace, an additional contingent of police has been deployed in the zone.
Locals observed that the rest of the valuables in the temple, including the donation box, were safe; only the Hanuman murti was damaged. This establishes that the miscreant had broken into the temple with the sole purpose of vandalizing the sacred murti. The devotees have said that they will be purifying the temple before starting the prayers and rituals as usual. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has held the state government responsible for the incident.
We must highlight that this incident took place on the same day two Burkha-clad Islamist women were caught desecrating a Durga murti in a puja pandal in Hyderabad. Locals had nabbed them and handed them over to the police. Interestingly, even in that case, soon after the arrest of the two accused, their family member started claiming that both of them suffered from mental instability.
This pattern of vandalizing Hindu temples and murtis and crying “mental instability” after being caught has become a popular Islamist template to go scot-free. These radicals are using this template routinely throughout Bharat and Bangladesh. The country-wide anti-Hindu pogrom of Bangladesh during the last Durga Puja is a spine-chilling illustration of the extremes these radicals can go to torment the non-Muslims, particularly Hindus.
(Featured Image Source: OpIndia)
