Councillor held for damaging statue

Union minister Piyush Goyal being felicitated at Don
Bosco bicentenary educational seminar in Guwahati
on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos

TT, Guwahati, Aug. 8: Four persons, including a BJP woman councillor, were arrested here today for desecrating the statue of Don Bosco and pushing it into the Bharalu yesterday.

The statue of priest and educator John Bosco (Don Bosco) that was to be unveiled by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi at the Bharalumukh riverfront, was partially damaged and pushed into the Bharalu by a group of over 100 people early yesterday. A few from the group had allegedly hurled stones at police and CRPF personnel when they tried to stop them. Three police personnel sustained minor injuries in the incident.

The miscreants fled soon after the incident and people from the Don Bosco Society retrieved the statue from the river.

The incident came close on the heels of protests over the statue's installation by local residents, Cotton College Union Society and Akhil Bharatya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The protesters had accused Dispur of overlooking the patriotic sentiments of the people by giving the go-ahead for installation of the statue of Don Bosco, who, they claimed, "had no individual contribution to Assam". The installation of the statue was a part of the bicentenary celebrations of Don Bosco's birth anniversary.

Deputy commissioner of police, Guwahati (west) Jitmol Doloi told The Telegraph that the four have been charged with hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community, apart from creating public nuisance. Guwahati police commissioner Mukesh Agarwala confirmed the arrests.

Sources said the four included Sunita Bhilwaria, a BJP councillor of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, and her husband Anesh Bhilwaria.

Soon after the arrest, a section of BJP leaders and workers gathered at the Bharalumukh police station and demanded the immediate release of the councillor. A BJP leader said the police initially picked Sunita and her husband for questioning. "But the police hatched a conspiracy and arrested the BJP leader", he alleged.

"We assembled at the police station and had assured the police to extend all kinds of cooperation in the investigation into yesterday's desecration act. But the police acted in a partisan manner," the BJP leader alleged. The police, however, rejected the BJP charge and said the law would take its own course.

All the four accused were produced in the court of the first class judicial magistrate in Guwahati this evening. Sources said even though advocate Bijon Mahajan moved the bail application on behalf of the accused, the court rejected the petition. The court also rejected the police's plea to take the accused into its custody and instead remanded them in judicial custody. The police had earlier framed charges under non-bailable Sections 153A, 333 and 353 of IPC on the accused.

On the other hand, the Assam State Commission for Minorities, in an emergency meeting here today, took cognisance of the "undemocratic and non-secular" incident that took place yesterday. Expressing concern over the incident, commission member Allen Brooks said such an incident was against Assamese culture and that the miscreants might have a hidden agenda to disturb peace and tranquillity.

The commission has also decided to write to the chief minister and director-general of police Khagen Sarma, asking them to submit a detailed report on the incident at the earliest.