Mentally unsound man thrashed for offering prayers atop place of worship in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Locals assaulted a 25-year-old mentally unsound man for scaling a place of worship and allegedly trying to offer prayers on Wednesday night. The accused was handed over to the Medipally police and, after a medical examination, police shifted him to Institute of Mental Health, Erragadda, for treatment.In his complaint to police, Baddam Kumar, a businessman from Prathap Singaram village, alleged that at 8pm on Wednesday, a stranger scaled the place of worship at Prathap Singaram and offered prayers. "He hurt the villagers' sentiments. We request you for necessary legal action," Kumar stated in his complaint.Medipally police booked a case under Section 298 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class, by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 196 (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 301, 302 (Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), and 333 (trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the BNS.Police took the accused into custody from the place of worship. "He was incoherent. He claimed to be from Bihar. He identified himself with different names. After the medical assessment at Gandhi Hospital, we produced him before court and he was referred by the court to Institute of Mental Health for treatment," a senior police officer of the Malkajgiri police commissionerate said.Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Uppal, K Suresh Kumar said that details of the case can't be divulged due to its sensitive nature.