The police have reportedly detained 32 people so far and registered cases against 150 others after the incident on Sunday night, May 14. Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police Rakesh Ola said. Among those who have been named (wrongly) in the FIR are also reportedly activists of the All India Students Federation (AISF).

Two days after communal clashes broke out in Shevgaon town of Ahmednagar district, traders called a bandh on Tuesday, May 16, demanding action against those involved in the violence.

Stone pelting was allegedly done at a public procession celebrating the birthday of Shambhaji Maharaj though locals contest this claim of the police.

Internet services had been thereafter suspended for some days in Shevgaon, which lies about 65 kilometres from the Ahmednagar District HQ.

SP Ola said, a heavy police force, including State Reserve Police Force and riot control squad, have been deployed at the village.

The Deputy Chief Minister assured that the situation is under control DCM Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the Home portfolio, said the situation is under control in Ahmednagar. “Those who are trying to trigger riots will not be spared. Strict action will be taken against those who are helping to create such untoward incidents,” he said in Pune.

The riots took place just a day after similar violence in Akola Town and a tense stand-off between a group of people who tried to perform a ritual on the steps near Trimbakeshwar Temple which was construed as entry inside  the temple premises.  Local police held a ‘peace committee’ meeting in order to maintain law and order, officials said.

Ironically Udhav Thackeray former chief minister and leader of the Udhav Thackeray Shiv Sena told the Hindu in an exclusive interview on May 22, 2023 “In Nashik, the custom of Muslims offering reverence at the Trimbakeshwar temple is being turned into a controversy. This was communal harmony. You (BJP) first decide whether you want to play Hindu-Muslim politics or patriotism.”

On May 17, Sabrangindia had reported:

“controversy has been created over a ritual being followed in Nashik over the years at the Trimbakeshwar Temple. A video has emerged showing a group of Muslim men at the steps of the temple to offer a chadar on the Shivling on May 13. The incident created a tense situation, with some devotees and temple authorities objecting to the act, citing it as a violation of religious norms. The video has gone viral on social media, further fueling the controversy surrounding the incident.

In response to the incident, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe to look into the allegations of forcible entry and the claims surrounding the decades-old ritual. This decision by Fadnavis has further intensified the political tensions surrounding the controversy. Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust has also written to Nashik Commission of Police demanding action against the group for trying to enter the temple, reported Times Now.

The Muslim community leaders have expressed surprise and remorse over this controversy and the move to order a probe into this as the ritual of showing loban or frankincense from the temple entrance steps is a practice that has been followed by local Muslims over the last several decades, reported Indian Express. “There was no attempt to enter the temple or put any chadar inside the temple premises. Muslims in Trimbakeshwar have for generations been following the practice of sending the fumes of frankincense from the steps of the temple premises during an annual gathering at a nearby dargah. This practice has been going on for decades and the local Hindu community has never taken exception to it. We are surprised that this issue has now been raked up and it has taken a communal turn,” Avez Kokni, the former president of the Trimbakeshwar Nagar Parishad, told The Indian Express.

Even a local resident of Trimbakeshwar confirmed that this was an age-old practice and a symbol of syncretism. “Muslims make up a very small percentage of the city’s population and have stayed in harmony. Our city has been peaceful and non-communal which would explain why in spite of being a Muslim, I was accepted as a leader. I am surprised why this age-old custom is now suddenly being questioned,” Parvez Kokni, former chairman of the Nashik District Central Cooperative Bank, told the publication. However, a section of temple trustees have said they do not know of any such tradition.

Members of the Muslim community have submitted to the police evidence such as videos of previous years where a similar ritual was conducted at the entrance of the temple.

The temple incident has triggered a debate on religious tolerance and coexistence. Some might argue that it is important to respect and accommodate various religious beliefs and rituals and to promote syncretism in a culturally diverse country like ours. Others who differ from this point of view are the ones up in arms against this practice which a sizable population has claimed to be a tradition of many years.”

Related:

30 FIRs Registered against Hate Speech and Hate Crimes: DGP, Maharashtra

SIT to probe Muslims offering respect from steps of Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra ?

Suresh Chavhanke’s hate mongering continues with immunity: Shrirampur, Ahmednagar

Bajrang Dal threatens Muslim seller: Shop’s name “Zayed” instead of “Raju”

The real Kerala story

An unusual Pilgrimage, Reclaiming Hindusim from Hindutva: Hindus for Human Rights

Now ‘Hindu Rashtra’ enters temples in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka

The post Maharashtra: 5 injured after 2 communities clash over Sambhaji Maharaj Jayanti procession, tensions simmer in Ahmednagar, Nashik appeared first on SabrangIndia.

At least 9,000 children tested Covid-positive in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra in May, 2021 although 95 percent of the cases were asymptomatic, reported The Tribune.

PTI reports estimated 9,928 cases out of a total of 86,182 cases were of children below 18 years, as per District Collector Rajendra Bhosale on June 1. Moreover, these cases account for about 11.5 percent of all cases reported last month.

While over 6,000 children were in the 11 to 18 years age group, around 3,000 were in the 1 to 10 years age group. A few children, yet to complete a year of life, also tested positive for Covid-19. However, regardless of the break-up Bhosale told news organisations that most children did not face danger as many were asymptomatic. Instead, he spoke of the report as a warning of a possible third wave of Covid-19 and asked parents to take care of their children.

Similarly, Ahmednagar’s paediatric task force member Dr Sachin Solat said that of the 350-370 patients admitted in the district’s civil hospital only five to six were children. In fact, 97 Covid-positive minors were reported on May 31 out of 1,000 new Covid-19 cases.

Nonetheless, a task force comprising 10 senior paediatricians has been formed in Ahmednagar to prepare against an oncoming third wave of the Coronavirus. A State Paediatric Task Force meeting is to take place on June 1 to discuss the Ahmednagar incident further. Meanwhile, Solat has called for a 100-bed facility equipped with oxygen and ICUs at the local hospital.

As of May 28, the district reported 2,58,195 positive cases and 3,086 Covid-deaths on its website. While there is no explanation for the spread of the virus among over 9,000 children, there is speculation that the minors are infected by Covid-positive adults around them. 

Earlier, SabrangIndia talked to Save The Children organisation that recommended temporary care and support safe spaces for children whose parents/guardians are hospitalised or quarantined to save them from the onslaught of the third wave.

Related:

GoI claims 577 Covid-orphans, but numbers may far exceed official data: Outreach workers
EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds die of Covid and data goes missing, UP gov’t remorseless
Covid-19: Karnataka unable to dispose of the dead, even as people struggle to survive
Is the right to health a forgotten constitutional mandate?

The post Shocking! Over 9,000 children test Covid-positive in May in Ahmednagar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Source: shanidev.com Police on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, foiled the women march toward Shani Shingnapur temple and detained many activists including Bhumata …

Six busloads of members of the Pune-based, Bhumata Brigade who sought entry into the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, to secure for themselves a right enshrined in the Indian Constitution – that there shall be no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth were arrested this Republic Day. Trupti Desai, a leader of the brigade had announced that, if they were refused entry, they would persist with their programme, albeit unconventionally, in a helicopter descent. But the police also thwarted this. Earlier, the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) had issued a call for the mobilisation of Hindu men to ‘protect’ religious tradition.
 
The Bhumata Brigade, which came into being in 2007, has taken up a number of other issues. News reports detail its support for the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, farmers’ agitations on crop-loans, the Ajit Bank's multi-crore scam, etc. On January 11, rattled by its announcement to take on the temple, the Shani Shingnapur Temple Trust appointed a woman, Anita Shetye, as its chairperson, and another woman, Shalini Lande, on its board of trustees. 
 
The storm the Bhumata Brigade has kicked up over the entry of women to this temple is matched, perhaps in a more muted fashion in the legal arena, with discussions of the right of women to two other places of worship – the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala and the Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai. In all these places, women of these faiths are demanding the Constitutional right to practice their faith and worship alongside men, without any discrimination.
 
Last year, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court to demand the right to enter the mazaar of the Haji Ali dargah and the Indian Young Lawyers' Association (IYLA) filed a writ petition to seek the entry of pre-menopausal women and post-puberty girls into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
 
In both petitions, significant aspects of constitutional rights are at stake, though the trustees of these places of worship have proffered different reasons for restricting or banning the entry of women. While Article 15 of the Constitution of India prohibits any discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, the IYLA petition has challenged the ban under Art 14 (equality before law) and Arts 25 and 26 (freedom of religion) of the Constitution. The ban on the (Sabarimala) temple itself is enforced under rule 3 (b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965.

There has been much debate on the myths and the reasoning behind the restrictions (including the arduous trek to the shrine through forests that used to be populated by wild animals) but the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Samarimala Temple, maintains that the restriction is necessary because the presence of women of reproductive age would disturb the celibate god. (See https://sabrangindia.in/article/unholy-and-unconstitutional-ban-women-sabarimala)

The Shani temple does not specify any clear reason why women are not allowed into what is called the ‘foundation’ – the raised granite wall which encloses the idol. Pictures and information of the Shani idol on the website of the temple (a tri-lingual one – available in English, Marathi and Hindi) clear show the foundation was added later on the donation of a local trader. Interestingly, the HJS site says that prohibitions on women is a matter of ‘spiritual science’ and quotes the Sanatan Prabhat to say that a movement must be started to protect religious traditions!

The Haji Ali DargahTrust proffers more prosaic administrative reasons. Here, women were allowed till as recently as 2012, when a decision was taken to prohibit the entry of women on grounds of their safety and security!

While the hearings on the Sabarimala temple entry are on, the Bombay High Court has decided to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision before giving its verdict on the BMMA’s petition on entry into the Haji Ali dargah.

      
 
For several years now, women have been trying to push the ossified frameworks that govern religious practice. There are instances of daughters of the Hindu faith who performed the funeral rites of their parents (the latest being Mallika Sarabai who lit the funeral pyre of her mother and celebrated danseuse Mrinalini Sarabai just last week). There are less publicised instances of Hindu widows who participate in the weddings of their children. Hindu women have chanted the Vedas and other Sanskrit shlokas and some of them also conduct religious ceremonies.
 
Hitherto, these attempts to push the envelope were seen as private acts that impacted family or friends and the immediate community. Even when women worshippers tried to enter the Sabarimala shrine or the Shani Shingnapur temple, they were seen as stray rebels or worshippers who entered the forbidden area by mistake and elaborate purification rituals were undertaken to ‘restore’ the sanctity of the shrines.
 
But now, it is clear these efforts have entered the more public realm of organised religion, especially with trusts that command a lot of influence and manage substantial funds. The trusts are accountable to the laws of the land and do have state and political patronage, either in the form of long leases on the land they occupy or in the composition of and appointment of the trustees and administration.
 
Granted, the struggle to seek their rightful place before their gods is a fundamental expression of the faith of these women. But the edifice of religious practice is not merely a question of faith. When women confront these structures, as they have done and are continuing to do in matters of personal law, matrimony, maintenance, child custody, property and inheritance rights, they have had to wage protracted battles to secure the most minimal of rights. The restrictions on the entry of women into places of worship are only one manifestation of the patriarchy and misogyny that marks much of organized religion. Much more than mere tradition is at stake here.
 
 (This writer is a senior and independent journalist)
 

The post The Right to Worship my God appeared first on SabrangIndia.