Miscreants break into 13 places of worship in Darrang, deface idols

Guwahati: Miscreants broke into 13 places of worship and defaced idols near Mangaldoi town in Darrang district of lower Assam on Wednesday night. The incident has put police on high alert.According to police, most of the places of worship were unguarded and located by the roadside about 5 km from the district headquarters. The area is known as greater Mowamari Chapori, near the Brahmaputra. The targeted locations include the Gerimari and Chereng Chapori localities. The surrounding area has a mixed population, including minorities.Darrang senior superintendent of police Hemanta Kumar Das said, “The intention of the miscreants behind this act must be to create communal tension. Any other intention is unlikely.”He added that police registered a case at Mangaldoi police station and that the investigation is on. No arrests were made at the time of filing this report.Some of the places of worship were made of bamboo structures, and some were located on residential premises. In some places, the heads of the idols were broken; in others, parts of the idols were damaged.Villagers broke down after seeing the defaced idols in the morning and pointed to suspected illegal migrants being involved in the incidents. They rejected the possibility of the people from their village being involved.However, police refused to comment on who was involved. Das said someone with knowledge of the interior locations was likely involved.Former Mangaldoi MLA Gurujyoti Das, who arrived at the spot early in the morning, said, “The incident hurt the sentiments of locals. It was definitely a well-planned incident, where about 17 idols were broken or defaced. Before this, we never saw such an attack on places of worship in this area.”Villagers sought police security following the attack, as the incident occurred across a large area.