Anger, anguish and suspicion reign supreme in Maddur after stones were pelted at a Ganesha idol procession.
Published Sep 12, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 12, 2025 | 8:00 AM
Police have beefed up vigil in Maddur following Sunday's stone-pelting incident.
Synopsis: The scars left behind by the stone-throwing incident at Maddur in Mandya may take time to heal. Even as the police are probing all angles, including the role of outsiders in the attack on a Ganesha idol procession, the society stands divided; the othering of communities on communal lines has become real. People living in the same locality have ceased to be “us” as the untoward incident has made them “they” and “we”, finds South First.
Days after he was injured, Shakthiraj recalled the streetlights going off twice. “It might have been a signal,” the young man involuntarily touched a shaved patch on his crown.
Rohini was out on the street in Maddur’s Cauvery ward with her younger son, watching the Ganesha idol procession passing by, when the streetlights went off on 7 September.
“It was around 6.30-7 in the evening,” the homemaker said. The procession was then passing by a mosque on the street in front of Rohini’s house.
Rohini said the first stone targeted the DJ playing music in the procession.
Earlier, the authorities had reached an understanding with the procession organisers that the music would not be played when the rally passed by the mosque. The music would resume 50 metres from the mosque.
“When the lights came back on, the first stone was thrown at the DJ,” Rohini recalled. As she rushed back to the safety of her home, stones flew in both directions.
The stone-throwing incident at Maddur in Karnataka’s Mandya district has left the residents scared, angry, and suspicious of any outsider visiting the area.
Before the lights went off, Rohini had noticed some children sitting on the tractor carrying the Ganesha idol to the immersion point.
Shakthiraj suffered a head injury, which required eight stitches.
“They were injured,” the woman said. “Some policemen, too, sustained injuries.”
Among those injured was Shakthiraj. He was taken to a hospital where the doctors sutured his head injury. Many others, bloodied, soon followed Shakthiraj to the hospital.
“Fifty metres away from the mosque, the DJ resumed the music,” the government-job aspirant said. “The DJ was the first target and then stones rained on the procession,” he claimed.
Sagar said the stones flew in from the mosque and a nearby scrapyard.
Sagar, nursing a lower-back injury, corroborated Shakthiraj’s version. He said the stones came from the mosque and a nearby scrapyard. “There was a lot of confusion in the dark. Many people were injured in the melee,” he added.
Rohini was seething with anger and anguish. “Eid is celebrated here, and nothing happens when they take out their processions. Can’t we celebrate our own festivals?” she asked.
The “they” and “we” Rohini mentioned underlined the divide in Maddur. Religion has compartmentalised those living together.
The injuries Sagar and Shakthiraj had sustained would heal within days, but the anger and bitterness caused by the incident have led to the communal othering of people belonging to the same society.
Local businessman Zameer Ahmed was on the street with friends after offering Maghrib, the evening prayer, at the mosque. He had seen many Ganesha processions peacefully passing through the area, where he has been living for the past 47 years.
Zameer Ahmed said Hindus and Muslims were living in harmony in the area.
This time, however, it was different.
“Stones flew in both directions once the procession passed the mosque,” he recalled the incidents of 7 September. “People started to gather. Stones were thrown at the mosque and the Ganesha idol,” Ahmed, who was also hit by a projectile, said.
The man realised that the situation was spinning out of control. Along with a few others, he urged people to return home. He added that the police quickly brought in reinforcements.
“I felt bad that such an incident took place here. We all live together in harmony. We take part in the Ganesha festival and also provide donations when they approach us. Likewise, they do the same for our functions,” the man looked visibly worried.
Condemning the incident, he demanded strict punishment for those responsible for the incident.
Ramakrishna was tending to his cows when South First met him. He was sure residents were not behind the untoward incident. “People from Channapatna are behind this incident,” he asserted.
Ramya and Soumya are among the 500 people named in the FIR.
Local police sources said the streetlights going off raised suspicion of a planned attack on the procession. Cases were registered under various sections of the BNS. Police arrested 22 people for pelting stones, and a court remanded them in judicial custody.
A separate FIR was registered against 500 others, who took out a protest rally on 8 September, and allegedly obstructed the police from performing their duty.
“We were lathi-charged for seeking justice,” Soumya, whose name figured in the FIR, said. Her friend Ramya, also named in the FIR, said they were sitting in protest demanding justice when women police personnel resorted to a lathi-charge.
Pallavi, a young woman who was also named in the FIR, said she was watching the developments on the afternoon of 8 September, when the police used force to disperse the protesters. She suffered a knee injury in the lathi-charge.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
