On January 3, Tuesday reports emerged that some unidentified persons threw pieces of meat in the compound of a Kali temple in the Dhaka village of Shikaripada block in Jharkhand’s Duma district. Along with the meat pieces, the police also recovered pamphlets with the name and the mobile number of Khalila, the deputy head of Shivtalla Panchayat, scribbled on them.
SDPO Noor Mustafa Ansari and Police Inspector Sanjay Suman arrived at the scene after receiving information about the incident. Police, along with temple authorities, ensured that the pieces of meat were removed from the temple premises and the compound was cleaned.
The villagers, who were outraged by the desecration of the revered temple, demanded that the person whose name appeared in the leaflet be brought to the temple. However, owing to the tense situation which authorities thought may lead to a communal flare-up, the police did not accede to the demands of the villagers.
Jharkhand Police, as per reports, said that they suspect that such an act was committed in order to implicate the deputy head of the panchayat.
SDPO Noor Mustafa later told reporters that whoever is attempting to vitiate communal harmony in the region will not be spared under any circumstances and that strict legal action will be taken against them.
The police, meanwhile, have launched an investigation into the matter by filing an FIR against unknown miscreants.
This is not the first time that such an incident has been reported from Jharkhand. Miscreants have historically used meat as a weapon to attack Hindu temples and show their disdain for Hindu places of worship.
Last year, a similar incident came to the fore from the Rampur village of the Lohardaga district of Jharkhand where some antisocial elements hurled a piece of meat inside the premises of the local Shiv temple. The incident sparked a face-off between members of the two communities.
Prior to this, on February 28, a group of unidentified miscreants threw suspected meat pieces inside the Kalibari Durga Temple located in Phulbaria of Rajmahal police station area in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand, raising tensions in the region.