As word of the incident spread, a large crowd gathered, demanding immediate action and the swift arrest of the perpetrators. This led to a massive protest, with demonstrators blocking Tonk Road for about three hours. Tensions quickly escalated when protestors set tires on fire near the temple and attempted to set a nearby petrol pump ablaze. Timely police intervention prevented the situation from spiralling further.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) East, Tejasvini Gautam said that “We received information that some anti-social elements tried to vandalise Tejaji’s statue at Tejaji temple on Tonk Road. Police reached the spot and have registered an FIR. Investigation is underway,”

VIDEO | Rajasthan: “We received the information that some anti-social elements tried to vandalise Tejaji’s statue at Tejaji temple at tonk road. Police reached the spot and FIR has been registered. Investigation is underway,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jaipur East,… pic.twitter.com/pOwo4oUR4F

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 29, 2025

Gautam commented on the development and commended the police’s quick response, stating, “A catastrophe was averted due to the swift action of the police.” At least 20 people were detained during the operation to control the protest, and while attempts to disperse the crowd peacefully were made, “mild force” was eventually used to clear the blockade.

Misinformation and allegations amplify communal hate

The vandalism initially sparked a wave of misinformation, with certain groups accusing the Muslim community of being behind the desecration. Social media videos emerged showing protestors raising anti-Muslim slogans, which further stoked tensions of law & order. However, a swift and thorough investigation by the Jaipur Police helped put a stop to these rumours. Authorities quickly arrested a suspect, effectively containing the misinformation.

In response to the seriousness of the situation, over 10 police teams were mobilised to investigate the incident. Investigators reviewed CCTV footage and identified a suspicious vehicle near the temple at approximately 2:30 AM. By tracking the car’s movements across more than 100 cameras, police traced the vehicle to the InterContinental Hotel on Tonk Road.

The arrest of Siddharth Singh: Motive behind the vandalism

The investigation led the police to Siddharth Singh, a 34-year-old man from Bikaner who was residing in Rajapark, Jaipur. Singh’s vehicle was linked to the crime, and he had been visiting a friend at the hotel that night. After extensive questioning, Siddharth was arrested in connection with the vandalism.

In a press conference held later that evening, DCP Tejasvini Gautam provided details of the investigation. Singh was reportedly returning home late on Friday night after consuming alcohol with his friend at the hotel. According to Rajasthan Patrika, Singh had recently been dealing with financial distress, having been forced to shut down his restaurant, ‘Tamas Cafe,’ due to monetary struggles. This financial strain had caused significant emotional and mental stress.

Singh admitted to the vandalism during police questioning. According to Rajasthan Patrika, Singh explained that after leaving the hotel, he had stopped his vehicle near the Veer Tejaji Mandir, where he first recorded a video on his phone saying, “You didn’t do right by me”, before smashing three idols. Singh reportedly linked his actions to frustration and anger over his financial situation, blaming God for his hardships. Police were able to confirm Singh’s identity and his involvement in the crime through CCTV footage.

Singh’s confession and realisation of the impact

Upon his arrest, Siddharth Singh confessed to the crime. Investigators found a photograph of the temple on his phone, timestamped at 3:18 AM, further corroborating his involvement. Singh later expressed remorse, stating that he was under intense stress and had informed his fiancée that he had made a mistake. According to the Indian Express, Singh did not initially grasp the full extent of his actions until the next morning when his fiancée informed him about the protests and the public outrage over the incident.

However, Rajasthan Patrika provided a slightly different account of Singh’s realisation. According to Singh’s statement, he sent his fiancée photos of the broken idols that night, but then forgot about the incident until he was told about the controversy the next day. He only understood the gravity of his actions after his fiancée informed him of the ensuing protests.

Former CM Ashok Gehlot, MP Hanuman Beniwal condemn vandalism

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot condemned the act, calling it “highly deplorable” and an “unacceptable attack on public sentiments and faith.” In a post on X, he said, “The incident of breaking Veer Tejaji Maharaj’s statue in Jaipur’s Pratap Nagar is extremely condemnable. Tampering with public sentiments and faith in this manner is unacceptable.”

जयपुर के प्रताप नगर में वीर तेजाजी महाराज की मूर्ति को तोड़े जाने की घटना अत्यंत निंदनीय है। जन-भावनाओं और आस्था के साथ इस तरह का खिलवाड़ अस्वीकार्य है।

सरकार से मांग है कि इस मामले के दोषियों की शीघ्र पहचान कर उन पर कड़ी से कड़ी कार्रवाई की जाए। साथ ही, धार्मिक स्थलों की…

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) March 29, 2025

Gehlot also demanded stringent action against the culprits, stating, “I urge the government to swiftly identify the accused and take the strictest possible action. Additionally, effective and robust measures should be put in place to ensure the security of religious sites, preventing such incidents in the future.”

Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) chief and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal also reacted to the incident. Sharing his statement on X, he said, “It has come to my notice that anti-social elements have broken the statue of folk deity Veer Tejaji Maharaj in Pratap Nagar’s Sector 3, Jaipur. I have spoken to the Jaipur Police Commissioner and urged him to identify the culprits as soon as possible and initiate strict legal action against them.”

जयपुर में प्रताप नगर के सेक्टर 3 में लोक देवता वीर तेजाजी महाराज की मूर्ति असामाजिक तत्वों द्वारा तोड़ने की जानकारी संज्ञान में आई,मैने जयपुर पुलिस कमिश्नर से मूर्ति को तोड़ने वाले बदमाशों का शीघ्रता से पता लगाकर उनके खिलाफ कड़ी कानूनी कार्यवाही करने के संदर्भ में बात की…

— HANUMAN BENIWAL (@hanumanbeniwal) March 29, 2025

Multiple cases filed in connection with the incident

DCP Tejasvini Gautam confirmed that three separate cases had been filed in connection with the vandalism and the protests. The first case was filed by the temple priest, Manoj, regarding the desecration of the idols. The second case, filed by the police, concerns damage to public property and arson during the protests. The third case was registered by Ramesh, the manager of the petrol station, concerning the attempted arson and vandalism at the fuel station.

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The post Amid rumours blaming Muslims, drunk café owner Siddharth Singh arrested for vandalising Veer Tejaji idol in Jaipur appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Bulandshahr: Monday’s violence has barely been contained in the west UP village and RSS backed Sudarshan TV owner Suresh Chavhanke has already started stoking communal fires.  
 
In a series of tweets, Chavhanke linked the violence in Mahaw village, where a policeman was killed by an angry mob, to the peaceful congregation of Muslim devotees in Bulandshahr. About 10 lakh Muslim devotees have gathered in the town for Ijtema, an integral part of Tablighi Jamaat. Monday was the last day of the gathering.
 
In one tweet, he wrote that the violence had erupted because local residents objected to cow slaughter taking place in the congregation. He urged his followers to watch Sudarshan TV for updates on ‘lathicharge, burning, firing and deaths.’
 
His subsequent tweet read, “After the controversy over Bulandshahr Ijtema, many school children are stuck and crying. People are stuck in forests, frightened inside their homes. This is what local residents told Sudarshan TV in live conversations.”
 

Bulandshahr Police exposed his lies and, in a tweet, asked him to stop spreading fake news. “Please don’t spread misinformation. This incident is not linked to the Ijtema procession in any way. The Ijtema concluded peacefully. The current incident happened 45-50 kilometres away from where the Ijtema was held. Some rowdy elements are the perpetrators of this incident. Statutory action is being taken in the case,” the police outfit tweeted from their official handle.

 
Despite this, Chavhanke has not removed his post.  
 
He was arrested in April for spreading hate amongst communities, damaging social peace, hurting religious sentiments and spreading fake news and rumours through his news channel. He was let go soon after. He was also accused of sexual harassment by a former woman employee.
 
“Suresh Chavhanke, the CMD of Sudarshan News, said he was just three when he joined the RSS and began attending its shakhas. He was with the Sangh for the next 20 years, reporting for pro-RSS daily Tarun Bharat and holding various posts in the organisation before becoming a full-time journalist for the “nation,” reported the Indian Express. 

Read Also:
इज्तिमा में गए मुस्लिमों को बदनाम करने की कोशिश में जुटा था सुरेश चव्यहाणके, पुलिस ने खोली पोल

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As per a local news website, the translation of the original text on the post (Assamer niriho nagorikder upor kapuroshichito sontrashbadider hamla okhankar samajik poristhitie up bishrinkholota shrishti korar jonno baypok shodojontrer ashonka) reads as follows:
“The cowardly terrorist attack on the people of Assam seems to have an agenda of creating chaos in the state.”

It is extremely strange that the BJP official page should visualise the image of a supposed Islamic terrorist when no Islamic terror groups have been reported to be involved. Though the police indicated at the involvement of ULFA militants, the ULFA itself has denied their involvement.
Sabrangindia had reported how hate speech had preceded the killings and the article had suggested simmering tensions between various communities especially Bengalis Hindus and Muslims.

By using this image, the BJP official page seems to be giving an indication that Islamic terror groups are behind the attack, which may have grave repercussions for the already fragile atmosphere of the area following conflicts related to NRC and the troubled landscape.

The book whose cover page has been used, itself seems to be diabolical and the author Paul Sutliff defines himself as “only an awakened Patriot to what is happening around him.” The cover picture has been widely used by “several media organisation across the globe including the Economic Times for one of their report on Jaish-e-Mohammad and Masood Azhar.”

The local community, especially Bengalis who were angry at the attack tried to uncover the propaganda and took to social media to highlight the unethical behaviour. Debraya Mukhopadhaya, a CPI (M) activist, said, “: “The BJP’s West Bengal page has already started to visually portray the killers of Tinsukia (attack) as Muslims.”

Local news reports have quoted people saying that they feel this is a “divisive ploy” by the BJP for misleading its followers and others into trying to believe that the attackers were Islamist terrorists. Shouvik Ghosh went to the extent of saying, “Those who are responsible for the killing are now making these posts to gain public support by posting pictures of Muslim terrorists. As if they came from Pakistan to kill people here in Tinsukia.”

BJP’s Facebook page made three posts about the attack and merely said that the attack was uncalled and that the Chief Minister of Assam would be doing the needful. The pictures used in each post had silhouettes of terrorists who can be easily passed off as Islamic terrorists.
 

The post Visual Manipulation: Islamist terrorists image used by Official BJP FB page for Assam shooting appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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Karnataka: “In Congress rule at Shivmoga Karnataka, the teacher in school is teaching Namaz to Hindu children. And if Yogi Government even paints a school in Saffron colour it is communalism. That is perverted secularism in India,” this message was circulated at a breakneck speed last week on social media and travelled far and wide along with a video clipping serving as ‘proof.’
 
Like most other WhatsApp reports, this too was fake. The video clipping was just a small part of the teachers attempt to teach students about other religions for their Independence Day program. In other videos, they were seen teaching Sanskrit Shlokas from the Gita and verses from the Bible too.
 
BOOM Live, a fact-checking website, identified the school and found out that the teachers had first circulated two videos, one with the children reciting verses from the Quran and the other with them reciting verses from the Bhagavad Gita.
 
The website found that the video was from Vidyadeep Vidyalaya, a kindergarten school in Shivamogga district of Karnataka. “For Environment Day we conducted a program where all the kindergarten students recited verses from all the three religious books. Since this was a success we thought of doing it again for Independence Day and the video shows us practising for the same,” said Arathi Janardhan, Principal, Vidyadeep Vidyalaya to BOOM.
 
“In the second video accessed by BOOM, it clearly shows the same children from the first video reciting a Sanskrit Shloka. The video has one teacher narrating the Shloka which the students then repeat. The teacher who taught the verses from the Quran is also present in the classroom. I was the one who recorded both the videos and sent it to a Whatsapp group that we have created for communication with parents. I sent both the videos and many parents praised us for what we were doing,” the principal said in the report.
 
“The school has since scrapped the program for Independence Day next month because of the backlash it has received online. “We wanted a program which showed a unified world. We did not have any ill intent but our teachers and the school has had to face a lot of backlash and anger due to that video. I cannot put my teachers’ lives in danger or bring harm to my school so we are not going ahead with the religious scriptures event,” the principal said.
 
The video was circulated with the message, “In Congress-JDS ruled Karnataka in Shivamogga the teacher in a school is teaching Namaz to Hindu children. If the Gita had been taught in any Madrasah, the whole media would have forced the government to apologise. Plz spread this video so that Hindus can know how our religion is been destroyed by these secular parties.”
 
An attempt to teach school children religious harmony and appreciate diversity was turned into such an ugly political diatribe.
 
The miscreants who spread hatred online don’t realise how their actions affect real people in their immediate environment. Fake ‘child-lifting’ forwards with a video clipping originally made by an ad agency by Pakistan, has resulted in the murder of more 29 people since last year.

The post Fake News: Hindu school kids were not being forced to do Namaz in the viral video appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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Monday, April 16, was supposed to be a joyous occasion in Nawadih village under Domchanch Police station in the Koderma district of Jharkhand. With a population of just about 60 families, the village was getting ready to have dinner organised after a wedding from the groom’s side. For the same, a total of 50 kg of chicken and 15 kg of fish (reserved for the special guests) was being prepared and by midnight, almost all of it had been consumed. Until Monday, this was just a regular wedding organised by two Muslim families for their friends and relatives.

What followed next day has become a frighteningly common narrative across the nation. On Tuesday morning, WhatsApp messages started doing the rounds accusing the family of having served beef in the wedding party, fuelled by bones found behind the house of the groom. By afternoon, a mob of almost 100 people according to local Muslims had ransacked and looted the house of the groom, smashed cars, bikes and autorickshaws and nearly lynched people. Two people, in fact, are still hospitalised. What is even more shocking is that all this vandalism occurred even as the Police was on the spot ‘investigating’ if the meat served had actually been beef or not.

Two days later, the police said it had arrested seven people for vandalism and two Muslims also for allegedly spreading the rumours that beef had been served in the wedding. All this has left Atif Ansari (name changed on request) and his family and fellow residents of  Nawadih village fearing for their life. Speaking with TwoCircles.net, Ansari said, “I am a daily wage labourer. My family had attended the wedding too…chicken was the only meat served at the wedding. How can there be beef in so much quantity in a wedding when people know it is illegal? Also, why would they cook beef when they know that anyone can tell this to police and land them in trouble?” he asks. Ansari said that the morning after the wedding, one hoof of a cow was found buried near the house of the groom which sparked the vandalism. “I have seen that hoof…no one can say that it is of recent times…it was old and could very well have been planted there. Plus if there was so much beef, do you think they would cut the cow near the house and then cook it? And why would they bury just hoof? Where is the rest of the carcass then?” he asked.

The claim that there might have been beef seems contentious, but that did not stop members of Hindu right-wing organisations from damaging anything and everything they wanted. “They broke window panes of the residents, they burnt bikes, they destroyed cars, tore books meant for children in the local Mosque…all this was done to scare the Muslim community. Since that day, these goons have been telling us to run away from here,” he said. “And the truth is that their threats have worked…a number of families have sent their women, daughters and children away for fear of their safety,” he added.
 
Another resident who refused to be named said that the Police, as usual, was trying to divert the issue in its investigation. “It is true that they have arrested seven people but the truth is that the Police are more interested in investigating whether there was beef or not,” he said. “The police have also arrested two Muslim men-Mohammed Riyaz and Mohammed Aijaz-on charges that they had spread rumours about beef as they had a family dispute with the groom’s family. However, the truth is that Riyaz and Aijaz went with two other Muslims to file a plea with the police to investigate the matter in all possible ways. This was a hate crime but police want to make it look like a property dispute,” he added.

Although Superintendent of Police Shivani Tiwari said the situation is normal, the locals say they are scared of what will happen next. When asked who was behind the attack, Tiwari told TwoCircles.net, “We are investigating that aspect. So far, we can only confirm that seven people have been arrested for vandalising.”

Ansari, who said that Hindu right-wing organisations had been threatening them for a very long now, believes that the situation will only get worse. “Migrating to someplace else is something I never imagined yet now I have to consider it. No one knows what is next,” he added. “What else will one do if even eating chicken can cause our homes to be destroyed?” he added.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post Man nearly killed. homes and property vandalised, women fleeing in fear: How a beef rumour ruined a Muslim wedding in Koderma appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image courtesy Scroll / A hoarding in Honnavara which says, “Hindu tiger, the Hindu martyr come alive again”.

It all started on December 1 in port town of Honnavara. On the occasion of Eid-Milad, some Muslim youth had unfurled a green flag at the Chandavar circle in the town. After which a number of Hindu youth reached the place and installed a pole with saffron flag there leading to clashes between the two groups in which at least five persons were injured. On December 6, the town witnessed another incident of a communal clash over an accident in which Paresh Mesta was allegedly also a part of it. Mesta went missing since then and his dead body was found floating in town’s Shetty Kere Lake on December 8. Rumours around Mesta’s death started circulating in social media groups and State BJP leaders were the forerunners in spreading them. The rumours of Mesta’s body being brutalised were turned down by the preliminary postmortem report, however, Hindutva outfits have resorted to communal violence across the district. Muslim communities have remained in a state of fear, locking themselves inside their houses. In order to bring in normalcy, Karnataka Police arrested about 160 persons allegedly belonging to Hindutva groups for taking part in riots across the district. In the recent riots t was reported that at least 50 persons were injured and properties belonging to Muslims were vandalised.

Speaking to Newsclick, Civil rights activist H. S. Anupama, a doctor at Jalaja General and Maternity Clinic in Honnavara described the tensed atmosphere caused among the Muslim communities due to violence. “In the last ten days, my clinic hasn’t been visited by any Muslim patients. Instead, some of my patients have contacted me through phone and told that stones are being pelted at their houses”. She said, “at least in the last two decades, Uttara Kannada has not seen any such communal violence, however, other parts of the state have witnessed such situations.”

BJP MPs from the state, Anant Kumar Hegde, and Shobha Karandlaje have reportedly made hate statements despite communal tensions. Karandlaje claimed Paresh Mesta to be a BJP activist and accused “Jihadists” to be responsible for Mesta’s death, however, it turned out that Mesta’s father denied any such Party affiliation of his son. Hegde, on the other hand, had earlier called for a ‘Jail Bharo’ from December 19, demanding the release of the persons arrested during riots. After some of the arrested people were released on December 15, hedge wrote a Facebook post threatening more violence . It said, “The chief minister should be ready for a bigger Marikamba Habba”, (Marikamba Habbais an annual event where animals are sacrificed near a temple).

Brief history of communal violence in Karnataka
How did a region known for its secular values turn into a hotbed of communal politics in the state? Shivsundar, a longtime associate of Gauri Lankesh Patrike traced the history of communal violence in the state of Karnataka. According to him Uttara Kannada district transformed into such a site gradually, after a planned effort of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar.

In 1985 Kolar witnessed communal tension after the decision of BJP and RSS to celebrate Ganesh Utsav in public in grand scale; in 1990 a riot broke out with the preparation for Eid-Milad celebrations in Kolar. BJP along with RSS did a door to door campaign and mobilised the locals and protested the Eid procession being carried out in Kolar.

BJP and RSS sympathisers celebrated the laying of foundation stone of Ram temple in Ayodhya on 10 November 1989. This resulted in a series of riots in Arsikere, Hubli, and Dharwad. In 1990 the Rath Yatra of the BJP had again sparked a communal tension in the regions of the procession; this tension continued till1992 following the Babri Masjid demolition.

In 1994, a dispute around an Urdu news channel broke out. The Kannada Para Sanghas (Kannada organisation) joined hands with the Hindu fundamentalist groups in the state and opposed the initiative. This again triggered communal tensions in the state.

Shivsundar noted that since 2004, BJP has become stronger and in collaboration with RSS, has been trying to polarise the state. According to the database of communal violence in the state collated by Alternate Law Forum (ALF) in Bangalore, festivals and public gatherings have been the main sites of communal violence. Twenty four churches were vandalised under Yeddyurappa led BJP government, in 2008.

Shivsundar says, “In 2017 BJP has changed its agenda from development to communal polarisation. The recent attack on Baba Bundangiri shrine in December 2017 proves it.”

Shivsundar also pointed out that, BJP and RSS had tried hard to communalise the Hyderabad-Karnataka regions but were unsuccessful. The syncretic nature of the region posed a serious challenge to their efforts to communalise the region; after which, they have occupied the Mumbai Karnataka region. Dakshina Kannada is also one of the regions that are now the soft targets of communal agenda of the BJP and RSS.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

The post What’s Behind the Communal Violence in Karnataka appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 

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On 26th October, at Sadar Kotwali, Nai Bazar Road in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, a statue of Swami Vivekananda was found damaged with the head of the statue lying on the ground beside the statue. A rather unknown website called Akhand Bharat News was the first to report this issue. This report claimed that an anti-social element had broken the statue of Swami Vivekananda and was subsequently arrested. Patrika reported the same incident on October 27th and stated that the district administration has promised to install a new statue.

Even though none of the news reports had stated anything about the religion of the accused, social media made this into a communal affair with posts on both Facebook and Twitter claiming that people belonging to the Muslim community were behind this incident. The tweet by Shankhnaad got retweeted the most number of times with over 2600 retweets at the time of writing.

A rather popular website called Topyaps.com referred to Shankhnaad’s tweet and published a story titled, “Swami Vivekananda’s Statue Gets Damaged In ISIS Style In UP’s Bhadohi“. The story goes on to make innuendos completely contradictory to the prevalent news reports. The first para of the story states, “Whatever may be one’s political affiliation, the respect for Swami Vivekananda remains indistinguishable. Except, of course, the far Left and anti-Hindu religious fundamentalists, no one can even think of insulting Swami Vivekananda. But some anti-social elements have damaged a statue Swami Vivekananda located at Sadar Kotwali, New Bazar Road, Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh.“.

However, when a Twitter user tagged UP Police on Twitter, urging them to take action, Bhadohi police’s Twitter account responded stating that the accused had already been arrested, his name being Premchandra Gautam, son of Neeraj Gautam. Bhadohi police further stated that the accused was arrested at 12:55 pm on 26th October.

Fact-checking website BoomLive.in who was the first to do a fact-check regarding this claim also spoke to additional SP of Bhadohi, Sanjay Kumar, who rubbished the claims on social media and stated that the accused was mentally challenged.
 

Another day, another rumour, another set of right-wing Hindutva accounts using fakery to further their hate agenda. At what point will the police smoke out the anti-social elements behind accounts like Shankhnaad? At what point will Twitter finally decide to close their accounts for repeated fake news that foments hatred? Who would be responsible if rumours from one of these usual suspects leads to a riot yet again?

Courtesy: Alt News
 

The post The claim that statue of Swami Vivekananda was ‘beheaded’ by Muslims in Bhadohi, UP, is fake news appeared first on SabrangIndia.