Communal clashes occurred in the Mandya district of Karnataka on Wednesday as stones were pelted at the Ganesh idol near a dargah in Nagamangala town on Mysuru Road. ‘Some Hindus were taking out a procession for the immersion of the Ganesh idol in Badarikoppalu village but when it was about to cross a dargah on Mysuru Road, people from the Muslim community came and started a heated argument with the Hindu devotees’, according to the media reports.
Members of the Muslim community allegedly pelted stones at the Ganesh idol and slippers were also thrown at the idol. Members of the Hindu community became angry at the attack and demanded for the police investigation. Ganesh idol was kept in front of the police station and people staged a massive protest. More people reached the police station and joined the protest, demanding permission to take out a procession on Mysuru Road.
Some miscreants set shops owned by Hindus on fire and many shops were ransacked. Bikes and other vehicles parked on the side of the roads were also burnt. Mandya Superintendent of Police (SP), Mallikarjun Baladandi, said, ‘There were arguments between members of the the two communities over this. Police tried to disperse the crowd. The police had to resort to lathicharge to control the situation due to the large number of people Following that, people protested in front of the police station. Members of the other community also gathered in large numbers and started throwing stones.
The situation in the area became tense, and Section 163 of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita has been imposed. Additional forces were deployed to manage law and order. ‘The situation was completely under control and we have sufficient police forces, and fire engines are at the spot. No one suffered major injuries; only a few sustained minor injuries’, said SP Baladandi.
Union Minister HD Kumarswami condemned the violence by saying, ‘I strongly condemn the incident that happened during the Ganesh immersion procession in Nagamangala, Mandya district. Miscreants deliberately instigated violence by targeting devotees who were participating in the Ganapati procession. They threw stones, sandals, and petrol bombs at the public and police’.
Earlier a Ganesh Chaturthi procession in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, was met with violent stone-pelting on September 7th, 2024. The devotees, who were reverently transporting the sacred murti of Lord Shri-Ganesh, found themselves under attack as they approached the Mochipura area.
In one such incident, tension arose in Lakhenagar area of Raipur after two miscreants allegedly vandalized a Ganesha idol on late Friday night, September 6, prompting a major protest from the local Hindu community of the area. The incident took place at a Pooja Pandal in Lakhenagar under Azad Chowk police station limits where two youths of the Muslim community allegedly vandalized a portion of the Ganesha idol installed at a Pandal, triggering an outrage among the locals who gathered at the spot in large numbers against the provoking act.
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