Eggs hurled at Ganesha idol in Vadodara; 3 detained

Vadodara: 3, including minor, detained for throwing eggs at Ganesh procession.

Vadodara police have detained three people, including a minor, for allegedly throwing eggs at a Lord Ganesha procession in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The incident took place around 2.30-3 am on Panigate Mandvi Road, when a procession carrying Ganesha idol in Manjalpur was passing by the City Police Station, The Indian Express reported.

According to the officials, some of the eggs struck the idol of Lord Ganesha, leaving it defiled, while others caused minor injuries to people in the crowd.

The accused, who belong to another community, were identified as residents of the old city area in Vadodara. The adults have been booked under IPC sections related to hurting religious sentiments, defiling a religious idol with intent to insult, causing injuries, and attempting to disturb peace.

In the case of the minor, proceedings are being carried out under the Juvenile Justice Act as a ‘Child in Conflict with Law’ (CCL).

Joint Commissioner of Police Dr Leena Patil said that the situation could have escalated quickly but was brought under control thanks to the swift response of police teams. “The organisers immediately informed the city police station and the officials reached the spot in minutes, including teams of the DCB, SOG and others; we averted any big incident from taking place. We lodged the FIR at City police station for hurting religious sentiments, defiling religious idol, causing injury and provoking breach of peace… Process has also been initiated in the case of the CCL as per the provisions (of Juvenile Justice Act),” Patil was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

“Following the FIR, multiple teams were formed to track down the culprits. Police scanned CCTV footage, gathered local intelligence and used technical sources to trace the accused. Within a few hours, they were identified and apprehended. “They will be interrogated further, and if more people are found to be involved, additional names will be booked. Other sections may also be invoked as per the investigation,” Patil added.