The statue of Dalit icon and father of the Indian Constitution Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar found damaged at a village of Uttar Pradesh, triggering off protests by members of the Dalit community who blocked traffic on Thursday, police said.
According to the police, the incident took place at a village under the Sirsaganj police station area.
SP (rural) Mahendra Singh said the right hand of the statue of Ambedkar at Bagichi in Nagla Nandi village was found damaged on Thursday morning.
The locals and Dalit community demanded immediate installation of a new statue and arrest of the culprits. Senior police officials rushed to the spot and somehow pacified the protesters.
A case has been registered and efforts are on to nab the culprits, the SP added.
Earlier, similar incidents were reported where a statue of Dr Ambedkar was also vandalised by some unidentified people in Trivenipuram colony in Allahabad last Friday night.
After that incident, UP’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued directives to the district magistrates and SPs to take steps for ensuring the security of the statues installed in their respective districts and see that such cases are not repeated.
