On the night of September 27, a man identified as Rameez Ahmed broke into a Bhagwan Hanuman temple in the Hindpuri Police Station area of Ranchi, Jharkhand, and vandalised the idol there. The locals came to know about the incident the next morning. A Police complaint was filed, and upon checking the CCTV footage, it was learned that the miscreant behind the incident was one Rameez Ahmed.
Ahmed was subsequently arrested by the police. Notably, the police are claiming that Ahmed is mentally unstable. The locals are reportedly not satisfied with the reasoning provided by the police. Islamists had earlier pelted stones at this temple on June 10 this year following the tension that erupted over alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. An additional police force has been deployed in the area.
Jharkhand | A man was arrested for allegedly vandalising an idol of a deity at a temple in Ranchi
— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2022
One person was found involved in the incident & has been arrested. Adequate police force deployed in various areas. We got CCTV footage, probe underway: Kishore Kaushal, SSP, Ranchi pic.twitter.com/NJleJmGjR1
As per media reports, on the morning of September 28, Vicky Vishwakarma went to the temple for cleaning. He noticed that the lock of the temple was broken. When he entered the temple, Vicky found out that the forehead and mace of Bhagwan Hanuman’s idol were also broken. Notably, the rest of the items, including the donation box, were safe inside the temple, pointing out that the accused entered the temple just to vandalise the idol.
Speaking to Aaj Tak, locals said that though the police have been claiming that the accused was mentally unstable, the way he targeted only the idol raises several questions. The locals told the media channel that the accused left the silver crown and donation box untouched. Furthermore, some locals also claimed that on the night of the incident, when they were discussing Durga Puja preparations, some miscreants raised religious slogans to provoke them.
When the locals were informed about the incident, they gathered in large numbers outside the temple. The police reached the spot and pacified the situation. They checked the CCTV footage and arrested Rameez Ahmed for the alleged crime.
Keeping the incident in mind, the police did a flag march in the city. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the state government for the incident. The devotees have further announced that they will now purify the temple.
“Mentally unstable” – the excuse for multiple attacks on temples
This is not the first time that a temple or a Hindu religious place has been attacked, and then the police claimed that the accused was mentally unstable. The most recent case is from Hyderabad, where two Muslim women entered Puja Pandal and damaged the idol of Maa Durga. The devotees present on the spot caught them and handed them over to the police. Following their arrest, the police claimed that both the burqa-clad ladies were suffering from schizophrenia, a mental disorder.
In another incident of an attack on Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur, the police initially claimed that the accused might have a mental disorder. It is notable that the ‘mentally unstable’ persons from a particular community always attack a Hindu temple ‘out of rage’ due to their illness and not any other religious establishment of their own religion or other religions.
