Mazar vandalised, sacred cloth burnt in Shahjahanpur; case filed

Bareilly: An unidentified person allegedly vandalised a mazar and set fire to a sacred chadar at a shrine in the Chinour locality of Shahjahanpur during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, police said.Following a formal complaint, an FIR was registered in the matter at Sadar Bazar police station on Sunday.SP Saurabh Dixit said a ground inspection revealed charred pieces of cloth at the site. The iron mesh enclosure around the shrine was also found broken and damaged, he said, adding that the chadar appeared to have been deliberately pulled off and torched. Investigative teams were deployed to trace the perpetrator, police said.Mohammed Ahmed, the shrine’s caretaker, popularly known as Chand Miyan, said, “The mazar draws devotees cutting across religious lines, and the footfall of Hindu visitors here exceeds that of Muslims.” Demanding swift action, he added, “The accused not only damaged the iron mesh and burnt the chadar but also hurled stones at the structure.”Authorities invoked section 298 of the BNS against the accused, which deals with deliberately defiling or damaging a place of worship with the intent to offend religious sentiments.