Members of a right wing group called Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyaan demolished two mazars (tomb shrines) in Rishikesh town and allegedly broadcast their act live on social media last week. The Uttarakhand Police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against unknown persons for hurting the religious sentiments of people after the video surfaced and went viral. No arrest has been made in the matter so far as the police are still in the process of identifying the accused, who are visible in the video.
In the videos, available on Facebook and widely shared on X (formerly Twitter), members of the right wing group chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ before hammering the walls of a mazar erected in the backyard of a Hindu man. They deployed construction machinery to demolish the structure, and issued threats that they would raze more religious structures of the Muslim community.
