Members of Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyaan demolished two ‘mazars’ (tomb shrines) in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh and streamed the video on Facebook.
In the viral video, the members of the organisation can be seen demolishing two tomb shrines by using hammers and a JCB in the Amrit Gram area of Rishikesh, as reported by news agency PTI.
In the purported video, a person can be heard saying that all these illegal ‘mazars’ anywhere in the state will be demolished. The person also said that Rishikesh is a land of ‘rishis’. "It is Devbhoomi not Mazarbhoomi," the person said, as quoted by PTI.
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Reportedly, an anti-encroachment drive is being carried out in different parts of the state by and several ‘mazars’ have been demolished as part of the drive. However, the action was not taken by the administration but by Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan.
Reacting to the incident, Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan president Swami Darshan Bharti said that they sought permission to demolish the tomb shrines from the owners of the land on which they were built.
"The land on which the mazars were built belong to two Hindus from the hills. They permitted us to demolish them. We did it in the presence of police personnel," Bharti was quoted as saying by PTI.
"There are 25-30 such mazars in Gumaniwala and Shyampur areas of Rishikesh. We will demolish them too. Building mazars in Devbhoomi is an attack on our religion," he further said.
Swami Darshan Bharti also asked to build ‘mazars’ in other areas and spare ‘devbhoomi’.
Following the incident, Rishikesh Kotwali SHO Khushi Ram Pandey said that a case under IPC section 505 (committing an offence in any place of worship or any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or ceremonies) has been registered against unidentified people in connection with the incident.