Rajkot Police have arrested two persons for desecrating a Nandi idol in a temple in Shapar Veraval industrial zone on Wednesday. Police have identified them as Jayesh Chudasma (27) and Dinesh Mahida (25), who work as laborers. They reportedly shot a video while kicking the idol, as they wanted to create “sensation” on the social media platforms.
Shot for TikTok, youths arrested for desecrating idol in a temple in Rajkot pic.twitter.com/PB6te7Utyi
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) July 2, 2020
According to the reports, after shooting the video, they uploaded it on TikTok, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms on 28th June, a day before India’s government imposed a blanket ban on 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok. Both of them were drunk while shooting the video.
In the video that went viral on the internet, Chudasma was seen kicking the idol. Mahida was behind the camera recording the video. The complaint against the video was submitted by one Karan Parmar, who is a resident of Metoda GIDC. When he inquired about the video in his circle, he discovered that they committed the alleged crime in Shapar Veraval industrial zone. He informed the police and filed an official complaint.
While talking to TOI, an official from Shapar Veraval police station said, “As soon as the complaint was lodged, we swung into action and traced the accused. The accused are also seen smoking in the temple premises in the video. Both the accused are laborers. They said they were looking for a subject to make a Tik Tok video and decided that the desecration of an idol in a temple would make a sensational video.” He added that they were drunk while committing the crime. They have apologized for their crime and made a video saying ‘sorry’ that was uploaded on WhatsApp and other social media networks.
This is not the first time someone has desecrated a Hindu idol to shoot a sensational video. On 21st January 2020, idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses were desecrated in Andhra Pradesh. In August 2019, two Muslim youth destroyed Goddess Bhavani idol in Bijnor.
