5 people arrested in India's Madhya Pradesh for attempting to damage mosque: report

Five people were arrested in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday for attempting to damage a mosque in Dorana village of district Mandsaur a day earlier, Indian media reported.

According to Indian publication The Print, the incident occurred when people from right-wing organisations took out a rally in the village to inform residents about a fund for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya — being built on the ruins of the Babri Mosque destroyed by a mob in 1992.

Videos shared on social media showed participants carrying saffron flags and raising slogans surrounding the mosque. Some of the participants also climbed atop the mosque.

A police official told The Print that some of the participants also damaged houses of Muslims in the area. No residents were injured because they fled into surrounding fields, he added.

More people aside from the five already arrested are being identified from the videos on social media. Those arrested have been charged under sections related to rioting, criminal intimidation and obscene acts, the official said.

Mandsaur Superintendent of Police Siddharth Chaudhary said the mosque was not damaged in the incident.

The publication reported another such incident in Indore on the same day. The people who had taken out the fund-raising rally allegedly tried to damage a mosque and recite Hanuman chalisa — a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman, a popular Hindu god — outside it.

Police said it resulted in stone-pelting and gunshots which injured some people participating in the rally. Four first information reports (FIRs) were registered and 27 people were detained in connection with this incident, police added.