Dhaka. Nearly a dozen cases have been registered after around 35 untoward incidents related to the ongoing Durga Puja celebrations in Bangladesh. According to a video going viral on social media platforms, unidentified miscreants threw petrol bombs at a Durga Puja pandal in Dhaka on Friday. The incident reportedly took place in the Tati Bazaar area of the Bangladesh capital. A video shared on Twitter by a minority rights group shows an injured man being taken to hospital. The incident occurred as the five-day Hindu religious festival called Maha Shashthi began on Wednesday with the invocation of Goddess Durga.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammad Moinul Islam was quoted as saying, since October 1, there have been 35 incidents related to the ongoing Durga Puja celebrations across the country, of which 11 cases have been registered, 24 general diary (GD) cases have been registered. And 17 people have been arrested. Islam visited the Banani puja pavilion in Dhaka on Friday, after which he told reporters that Durga Puja was being celebrated in more than 32,000 pavilions across the country.
The development comes a day after it was revealed that a handmade gold crown gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stolen from a Hindu temple in Bangladesh’s south-western Satkhira district during Durga Puja celebrations. India had expressed concern over this incident of theft. The five-day Hindu religious festival, known as Mahasashti, began on Wednesday with the invocation of Goddess Durga. The festival will conclude on Sunday with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga. Minority Hindus in Bangladesh faced harassment during the violence that broke out after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister on August 5. Their business establishments and properties were vandalized and temples were damaged.