Two Saraswati idols defaced in B’baria, Dinajpur

Miscreants damaged two idols of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom, in Brahmanbaria and Dinajpur yesterday when the minority community observed Saraswati Puja across the country.

An idol of Saraswati was damaged at Chatalpar Degree College in ​​Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district early Thursday, reports our correspondent.

“Some Hindu students of the college returned home after completing the decoration of the Saraswati idol here around 11:00pm on Wednesday. Next morning, I and my colleague Narendra Sutradhar saw the idol broken as we were preparing to perform the puja,” said Suranjit Das, a teacher of Chatalpar Degree College.

They immediately called college Principal Omar Ali, who informed the local UP chairman and the police of the incident.

“Police went to the spot and kept the broken idol in a separate room. Legal action will be taken in this regard after investigation,” said Ranjan Kumar, in-charge of Chatalpar police outpost.

Later a new idol was brought and worship was arranged at the college premises.

Earlier on October 30 in 2016, religious bigots attacked five temples and vandalised and looted about 100 Hindu houses at several localities in Nasirnagar, following a Facebook post purportedly from the Facebook account of a fisherman belonging to the minority community.

Our Dinajpur Correspondent reports: Police arrested four people on charge of vandalising a Saraswati Puja spot in Phulbari upazila of Dinajpur on Wednesday night.

The arrestees, Shahidul Islam, 24, Azizul Islam, 24, Sekendar Ali, 45, and Manik Mondal, 23, all from Jiot village of Phulbari upazila, were sent to Dinajpur jail after police produced them before a court yesterday.

Local Hindus said Saraswati Puja was held at a makeshift temple at Jiot village on Wednesday and song was played on sound boxes there.

At around 7:30pm on Wednesday, 10 to 12 people of Muslim community appeared there.

“They vandalised the sound system, damaged the Saraswati idol and assaulted several Hindus here. They also took away a mobile phone. The attack occurred apparently for playing songs on sound boxes,” said Sree Lochan Das of Jiot village, who filed a case with Phulbari Police Station on Wednesday night accusing seven named people and 12 unidentified others.

There is a mosque around 300 foot away from the temple.

The incident occurred as songs were played during the evening prayer, said Md Rubel Hossain, a former member of Aladipur union parishad.

A police team led by Mia Mohammad Ashish Bin Hasan, additional superintendent of police of Phulbari Circle, visited the spot on Wednesday night. Police arrested four of the accused and attempts are on to nab the others,” said Fakhrul Islam, officer in charge of Phulbari Police Station.