Tension continued to prevail in Gajwel town on Tuesday as various Hindu organisations gave a call for a bandh in protest against the alleged desecration of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji on Pedched road Monday night.
Following the incident, night members of Bhagat Youth association and other locals confronted and manhandled the accused, who was allegedly in an inebriated state and had urinated at the base of the statue. He was later handed over to the police.
The police invoked IPC Sections 294 (performing obscene acts and songs), 294B (singing, reciting or uttering obscene song, ballad or words in public place), 295A (deliberate intent to outrage religious feelings), 504 (insulting someone to provoke) against the accused.
The same night the Gajwel police registered two other cases. One against certain persons related to the accused for assaulting a person who was part of the group that took the accused to the police station. The third case was over alleged attack on another person by certain persons related to the accused.
On Tuesday, observing bandh, several Hindu outfits took out a rally in the town and demanded the arrest of all accused persons. While the rally to protest the desecration continued, another rally protesting the treatment meted out to the accused also was taken out. At one point, the groups engaged in a face off and certain persons were reported to have pelted stones at a religious place. Tension prevailed as both the groups engaged in a heated exchange. Soon a large police force intervened and dispersed the crowds.
Various groups performed milk abhishekam for the statue of Chatrapathi Shivaji during the day.
Sensing further trouble, the police deployed more forces and set by pickets at various locations and monitored the situation.
Siddipet Police Commissioner N. Swetha said the accused persons from the three separate incidents were detained and remanded in judicial custody. She said more cases were registered against several individuals for Tuesday’s violence. She said the situation was restored to normalcy and appealed to everyone to exercise restraint.
