Thane, March 12 Police have detained two minors for allegedly vandalizing a statue representing the Agri-Koli community in Navi Mumbai and circulating its video on social media, officials said on Thursday.
The incident occurred in Sector 10 in the Vashi area. The statue, representing the Agri-Koli community (farmers and fishermen), had been installed by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
The vandalism came to light after videos of it were shared on social media platforms like Instagram, police said.
After receiving information about the video, the Vashi police launched an investigation and apprehended two minors from Mankhurd in neighboring Mumbai on Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Vashi division) Adinath Budhwant said.
The police also seized the mobile phone used to record and upload the content, he said.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 298 (injuring or defiling a place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class), 299 (deliberate and malicious act to outrage the religious beliefs of any class), 302 (uttering words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, the police said.
An investigation is ongoing into the case.
