Five more teenagers including four juveniles have been arrested in the Hauz Qazi Durga temple desecration case in Chandni Chowk area of Delhi, taking the total number of arrests to 17. As per the Times of India report, they have admitted to vandalising the temple to the Police.
During the interrogation, the youths have admitted that they were called by one of the accused caught by the police earlier. Upon being asked by others, they also pelted stones at the temple. Reportedly, they even broke down the shutter at the entrance of the temple. They even entered houses of some of the residents to terrorise them.
The suspects were identified on basis of the videos by some of the residents. As per the report, the police has given strict warnings not to shield the suspects.
As reported earlier, on the night of June 30, 2019, a mob entered Durga Mata Mandir, Lal Kuan in Chandni Chowk had vandalized the idols inside. The locals had posted videos of the temple on social media that showed the Muslim mob entering the temple and thrashing Hindus residents of the neighbourhood.
According to reports, a minor tussle over parking intensified and later snowballed into a stone pelting attack. Later that night, the mob barged into the temple with an intention to desecrate it leading to communal tensions.
Dr Harshvardhan, Union Minister and MP from Chandni Chowk had visited the area to take stock of the situation. While condemning the incident, he had directed the police to take strict action against the culprits.
Yesterday, several Hindu activists had pledged to ‘reclaim civilisation’, while one activist, Aviral Sharma had announced on Twitter that the group would be reciting Hanuman Chalisa at the vandalized Durga temple. However, Aviral was allegedly detained by the local police station and was pressurized to cancel the event.
He was later released and was then joined by more than 300 activists and local residents at the temple, where chants of Jai Shree Ram reverberated through the lanes.
