At a time when Agra police failed to make any breakthrough into the incident in which some miscreants had vandalised a church in Pratappur crossing area on Thursday, unknown persons once again tried to disturb communal harmony in the Taj city when they barged inside a religious place and broke down some statues on Monday night.
Police rushed to the spot along with senior officers once again completed the formality of registering a case in the matter and later strengthening the police deployment in the name of averting communal tension in the area.
Reports suggest that some unknown miscreants entered in ‘Jogeshwar Mahadev Temple’ — a 50-year-old temple situated in Caravan lane of Syedpara area in lohamandi police station area on Monday night. They decamped with silver tiara and other valuable ornaments of Goddess Durga and Parvati, besides damaging the statues including the Shivlinga. The temple was reportedly looked after by the Dalit community.
The news of attack on temple went like a wild wife on Tuesday and angry supporters began assembling in large numbers in lohamandi, which has a mixed-population of both Hindu and Muslims.
Sensing that the situation could turn violent, police force from all the neighbouring areas was immediately called in and cordoned off the temple. The damaged statues were taken into custody and replicas of the statues have been ordered to be placed in the temple.
The temple priest Karan Singh claimed that on Wednesday, the locals had planned a big celebration (Phool Bangla) at the temple but in light of this sad incident, the function has been postponed.
He said that 18 years back, the temple had been damaged in a similar sneak attack, but those were volatile times and the culprits were never caught.
This time, he hoped that the police would nab the culprits soon. Senior superintendent of police, Rajesh D Modak, reached the spot and claimed that they were looking into the crime and hoping of an early breakthrough.
It may be mentioned here that on Thursday night, some unknown miscreants had attacked Saint Mary church and had vandalised the statues and other properties. More damage to the church was prevented as suddenly the alarm started ringing. The criminals also damaged several vehicles which were parked near the church and it was also reported that they also tried to deface the statues. The miscreants also tried to open the door of the church but they failed to do so.
later, pastor Dabre rushed to the spot but by then, the miscreants fled and thereafter police reached the site.
The pastor claimed that the attack was against Christianity and later several protest march have been organised to press demand for arrest of the culprits. The church, which was constructed during the British period, had also celebrated the silver jubilee function of the pastor Dabre and it continued till midnight while the attack was done thereafter.
Earlier, a similar incident of vandalisation of a church was witnessed in Bulandshahr on July 16, 2014 by the activists of Bajrang Dal. last month, an elderly nun was allegedly gangraped at a Convent school in West Bengal by hoodlums who also looted cash from its lockers.
Two Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in connection with the March 14 incident. A cathedral premises and a missionary school where people had gathered for a religious convention were vandalized allegedly by activists of a right wing Hindutva outfit at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on March 20.