Bokaro (Jharkhand), March 5, 2012: More than 150 members of the Jain community, including women and children, participated in a silent march on Thursday, demanding recovery of the idols stolen from a temple in Sector II last month.
When other members of the community were celebrating Mahavir Jayanti with fervour and gaiety elsewhere, there were no special programmes or celebrations in this part of the state. Children and women were seen holding posters and banners that read, “Dharmic sthalo mein badti chori ki ghatnao ke virudh maun virodh (silent march in protest against the cases of rising theft in religious places).”
A few members of the community also met Bokaro SP Kuldeep Dwivedi and put forth their demands.
Dwivedi promised to take action against the miscreants and said they are making every attempt to recover the idols. A police team was sent to Bihar to check on a gang of criminals arrested in the neighbouring state. A few idols of deities were also recovered. The incident occurred on March 21. The miscreants stole three astadhatu idols of Lord Parasvanath, Mahavir and Vasupujya and 13 silver parasols.
In this context, Rajesh Kothari, a resident of Chas, said, “Mahavir Jayanti is one of the prominent festivals of our community but we celebrated it without pomp and splendour. The incident has hurt the sentiments of the entire community. We want the idols reinstated in the temple,” he said. – News Courtesy: Times of India