Kanpur police on Thursday filed an FIR against three people for selling Chicken biryani from the platform of an ancient Shiva temple. The matter came to light after mayor Pramila Pandey, who has been on a mission to free the old, ancient, dilapidated temples in the city that are squatted, captured or illegally occupied by other communities, discovered that an old Shiva temple beside Babu Sweet Shop in the Muslim-dominated area of Chamanganj was captured by the locals, who were operating a Chicken Biryani shop from the platform of the temple.
After visiting the area, Pandey expressed her anguish over the use of the platform of a Hindu temple for the sale of meat dishes. She said that such actions have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. According to the reports, when she asked the locals to open the temple, they declined to cooperate and refused to give the keys to the temple. This forced mayor Pandey to call Assistant Commissioner of Police Nishant Sharma, who was directed to free the temple from encroachment and remove the Biryani shop.
A case was filed against the culprits, namely, Mohammed Shiraz, Mohammad Noor Alam and Mohammad Farid under the sections pertaining to inciting religious sentiments and damaging the holy site and an investigation has started in the case.
The FIR was filed on the complaint registered by one Saurabh Tiwari and his friend Darshan Purwa. They have alleged that many ancient temples in the area have been illegally captured and encroached upon. As per them, the owner of the Biryani shop had demolished the ancient temple building, debris of which is still lying at the spot. The same is true of other old temples in the area, they insisted. The duo has demanded a high-level inquiry in the case to reclaim the lost temples.
Reports claimed one of the other temples in the area was used as a dump yard by the local minority community, who had stuffed their trash and locked up the temple. An article published in Amar Ujala said the mayor discovered several temples that had been demolished and only their debris remained. The locals were found occupying the temples and using the land for private purposes.
Realising that a large number of worn-out temples had been occupied in the city, the Mayor issued a directive to the administration to discover and free them from illegal occupiers. Besides, she also asked the administration to get the temples cleaned, rebuilt and renovated to restore their old legacy. Soon, a survey of the ancient temples in the area will be conducted so that their status can be known.
Pramila Pandey is known as ‘Revolver Aunty’ after her picture of holding a gun had gone viral on the internet. Pramila Pandey is also famous among the local residents because of her fearless image and no-nonsense attitude. Before being elected as the Mayor of Kanpur, Pandey had served as the District President of Mahila Morcha and twice as a councillor.
