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Journalism of Courage
Their hands joined and tied in ropes, the two men arrested for allegedly hurling eggs at a Ganesha procession in the old city area of Vadodara on Tuesday were seen limping and kneeling to apologise during the reconstruction carried out by the city police on Wednesday — a day after the incident had created a minor tension in the area even as the police teams said they had averted an escalation.
The two accused — Sufiyan Mansuri and Shahnawaz Qureshi — were paraded through the route that had been undertaken by the Nirmal Park Yuvak Mandal of Manjalpur on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday to bring home the idol of Lord Ganesha. On the way, near the City police station, eggs were allegedly hurled from the third floor of a building. The organisers immediately approached the city police station, leading to an FIR.
A police officer said, “The accused have admitted that they hurled five eggs at the idol. They claim they were doing it for fun and prank but given the gravity of the issue, we are not convinced that the men did not anticipate the consequence of their action. Therefore, we are looking into the aspect of a possible premeditated plan to disturb peace in the area… The two arrested accused are being questioned while the third accused, a minor, was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.”
Police said that the organisers of the Ganesha pandal have expressed concern that the incident was not a spontaneous one “for fun”. A senior police officer said, “We are inclined to believe that they had planned to do this at any procession passing through the area. They had climbed up a higher floor of one building in the area and one of them also rushed into another building to take an aim from a different angle… We have questioned residents in the buildings and they have told us that the accused do not reside there. However, if anyone else is found to be involved in this, they will also be booked.”
According to the police, the accused had fled from the spot during the commotion that ensued after their act and were looking to escape from the city but the police reached the site of the incident within minutes. The city police, officers said, has also undertaken a combing in the area to ascertain how many residents are living without legal registration as tenants.
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