The town of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh was a witness to unfortunate scenes on Wednesday evening after Muslim youths created commotion in an ongoing Ganesh puja. Reports claimed that the youths demanded that devotional songs and bhajan-kirtan be stopped playing.
According to reports, the preparations for an Aarti were underway at a Ganesh Puja in Risia Nagar when 5 youths from a nearby locality barged into the Puja stall with their shoes on. They started to create chaos and even started vandalising things present inside. When the priest objected they reportedly started to abuse him. When the committee members of the puja rushed to the spot, the youths fled from the area after giving threats. After somehow finishing the aarti, a crowd reached the nearby police station and started to demand action.
Seeing the situation, the Circle Officer along with a police force reached the spot and placated the crowd. After registering a case, the police raided 8 locations and as a result arrested the 5 accused named Zuber Khan, Faiz Ansari, Rizwan Ahmed, Sahil Idrisi and Istihaq Ahmed. They were later sent to a jail.
The report while elaborating on the matter claimed that the Ganesh Puja was being organised inside a Hanuman Temple. The incident happened at about 9:30 PM when the people had congregated for the Aarti.
This isn’t the only time such a communal incident has happened during Ganesh Puja. It was reported from Sahebganj in Jharkhand that two groups were involved in a big fight on Monday night during a Ganesh Puja Visarjan. As a result situation became tense in the city and in order to control it, a heavy police force was deployed.
According to the report, at about 10 PM the Visarjan procession was passing through a sensitive part of the city. Around that time, people taking part in the procession and youths of a particular community had a disagreement near a mosque. This unfortunately escalated and led to a fight which also involved stone pelting. In light of the incident, the Visarjan was done under heavy security presence and very few people were permitted to witness it.
