Police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly vandalising an idol of Lord Hanuman in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, where tension flared following the recent death of a teenager during a clash between members of two communities.
The 20-year-old person was held for damaging an idol of Lord Hanuman at a temple on February 12, Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe told reporters. Chothe said the accused has confessed before police that he committed the crime taking exception to the burning of religious flags at a mosque.
The SP said the incident had led to protests on GT Road on National Highway-2 in violation of prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC in Barhi Sub Division. The accused has been sent to judicial custody, he added.
Tension gripped the area after a 17-year-old boy was killed at Barhi on February 6 in a clash during the immersion procession of the idol of goddess Saraswati, police said.
Chothe said the post-mortem report of the deceased revealed that he was hit hard on the head and had injuries on his neck, stomach and spleen. He, however, said the killing was due to personal enmity, and that it was not a case of lynching.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has issued notices to the Jharkhand government and the Hazaribagh district administration, seeking details of the incident leading to the death of the minor boy.
Meanwhile, the BJP's state unit on Thursday staged protests at several places against the killing of the teenager, demanding capital punishment for the culprits.
BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash alleged that the Jharkhand government believes in the “politics of appeasement, even in cases of lynching". "No one is safe in the state. There is no law and order,” he said.
A five-member state government delegation had met the boy’s parents earlier this week and promised financial assistance and job to a family member. It will also soon submit a report to the chief minister.
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