Islamits pelt stones and glass bottles at Akhanda Ram Navambi procession [Odisha, India]

[Reported as seen]

On the 11^th of April, an Akhanda procession on Ram Navami by Hindu devotees came under attack by some local Muslim residents, in Joda town of Keonjhar district in Odisha.

Reportedly, the Hindu devotees had wanted to conduct an Akhada procession on Sunday on the occasion of Ram Navmi. The devotees had sought administrative permission to carry the religious flag to every Hindu temple in line with the Ram Navmi rituals followed every year. However, the Police denied the permission on Sunday and allowed only five members of the community to complete the procession on Monday.

No Ram Navami procession for the devotees on Ram Navami, only five devotees could take out the procession the other day. And the country boasts of secularism? Secularism has become synonymous to Hindu oppression.

On Monday when the procession reached the temple of Lord Shiva in ward number 4, the protesters from the Muslim community blocked the road and began arguing with the devotees. They didn’t allow the devotees to enter the temple area and began pelting stones and glass bottles at them.

When the police reached the spot to save the devotees and to stop the Hindu- haters, they met the same fate. The attackers were still not satisfied, they began destroying the nearby shops in the temple area. They also torched a couple of bikes and damaged a few more two-wheelers. The Police then open fire in the air to disperse the violent crowd.

The violent Muslim attackers did not stop for 4 hours, it seemed, they were bent on scarying the Hindus to their bones, for a basic right a civilized human deserves. The secularists could not bear the tiniest fragment of celebration of another religion.

Police officers including SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra, Champua Deputy Collector Pratap Pritimay, Badbil SDPO Himanshu Bhushan Behera, Badbil Tehsildar Alok Patel, Joda BDO Jagannath Hanuman were present at the spot to control the situation. The Police officers later imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the town till Tuesday 10 am.