Maharashtra: Hindu saints attacked, assaulted by locals in Sangli over rumours of child trafficking

A mob assaulted four Hindu saints, on suspicion of being child lifters in Maharashtra's Sangli district. The incident's video has since gone viral on social media. Sangli police have said that the Sadhus have not lodged a formal complaint yet.

Maharashtra | On reports of 4 saints being attacked by villagers in Sangli on suspicion of being child-lifters, Sangli SP Dikshit Gedam said, “We've not received any complaint/formal report, but are looking into viral videos & verifying facts. Necessary action to be taken.” pic.twitter.com/pxZyt0kgKZ

— ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2022

The incident happened in Lavana village in Jat tehsil while four sadhus from Uttar Pradesh were driving from Bijapur in Karnataka to the temple town of Pandharpur.

On Monday, they stopped outside a temple in the Lavana village. According to a police official, when they resumed their journey on Tuesday, they asked a youngster for directions. This caused some locals to think that they were members of criminal groups which abduct children.

“There was an altercation, which suddenly escalated, and the sadhus were beaten up with sticks by locals,” the police official explained.

Four Sadhus have been brutally attacked by the villagers in Sangli, Maharashtra#MaharashtraNews #SadhusAttacked pic.twitter.com/BZ3gQnt4yK

— Neeraj Chauhan (@chauhanrneeraj) September 14, 2022

The police official said that when a police unit arrived on the scene, they found that the sadhus were actually the members of an ‘akhada' in Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam condemned the incident and said the state government will not condone such “misbehavior” with the sadhus. He said in a video address that the accused will face harsh punishment.

@BJP4Maharashtra #MLA @ramkadam on #Sangli incident. pic.twitter.com/dyTuuFNxux

— Vivek Gupta (@imvivekgupta) September 14, 2022

“In the sadhus killing case in Palghar, then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's government meted out injustice to them. But the present Maharashtra government will not allow any injustice against any sadhu,” he said making reference to the 2020 incident in which Hindu saints were beaten to death.

सांगली मध्ये साधू संता सोबत जी दुर्दैवी मारहाण झाली .. त्याच्यबरोबरच जो काही अभद्र प्रकार घडला तो अतिशय निंदनीय आहे..

महाराषट्र ही संतांची भूमी आहे. या भूमीत साधू संतांचा अपमान कधीही खपवून घेतला जाणार नाही..

पालघर हत्याकांडात निर्दोष साधुंवर तत्कालीन फेसबुक लाइव्ह मुखमंत्री

— Ram Kadam (@ramkadam) September 14, 2022

A mob in Maharashtra's Palghar district had lynched two Sadhus of Juna Akhara and their 30-year-old driver on April 16, 2020. They were on their way to Surat, Gujarat when they were lynched by a hysterical crowd of more than 100 individuals.

The cops were present at the incident, but they did nothing to stop the mob or save the sadhus.