A shocking incident was reported at the historic Venugopalaswamy Temple in Devara Beesanahalli, Bengaluru, on the morning of October 28, when an Islamist man identified as Kabir, allegedly from Bangladesh, forcefully entered the temple’s sanctum sanctorum wearing footwear and physically desecrated the murthi of the deity using a chappal.
As per Public TV reports, before the incident, Kabir had reportedly been moving around the area, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ slogans, and was earlier seen striking a Ganapati image kept outside a nearby medical shop. When questioned by locals, he ran into the nearby Venugopalaswamy Temple.
Inside the temple, Kabir is said to have struck the Garuda pillar with a stone and then proceeded to the inner sanctum, where he pulled and hit the deity’s murthi using his chappal. This act of desecration stunned both temple staff and devotees present at the scene.
Locals immediately restrained him, tied him near a tree outside the temple, and later handed him over to the Marathahalli Police. He has currently been admitted to a private hospital for treatment. The police have seized the bottle, chappal, and stone used in the act and stated that interrogation will proceed once he is discharged. Initial reports suggest that he may have been residing in the city illegally.
Every time such incidents occur, a familiar pattern follows: the accused is conveniently labeled ‘mentally unstable,’ and the matter is quietly pushed aside. Girish Bharadwaj, reacting on X, pointed out this recurring trend under the Congress government in Karnataka, where attackers belonging to the Islamic community are swiftly shielded with the mental illness narrative to avoid accountability.
This selective leniency not only insults the sentiments of millions of Hindus but also undermines the integrity of the judiciary and law enforcement. If temples, murthis, and religious sentiments continue to be openly targeted, and the Islamist perpetrators are excused rather than punished, then it raises a serious question: Is the state unwilling to protect Hindu religious spaces, or simply indifferent?
If the situation were reversed, if a Hindu were to forcibly enter a dargah shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and insult the sanctity of that space, the reaction would be instant, intense, and nationwide. There would be protests, arrests, media outrage, and political statements. Yet when Hindu temples are desecrated, attempts are made to downplay the crime by calling the accused ‘mentally unstable.’ This is not coexistence; this is a one-sided tolerance being exploited.
Just a few months ago, in Belur, Karnataka, a Ganesha murti was desecrated using footwear, and that Islamist perpetrator, too, was conveniently labeled mentally unstable to dilute the seriousness of the crime. How many more insults to Hindu deities will be dismissed under the same excuse? The Venugopalaswamy Temple case should not follow the path of Belur. The police must ensure firm legal action, not appeasement-driven cover-ups.
