Two Muslim women, hailing from Saudi Arabia, allegedly vandalised an idol of goddess Durga in a pandal and a statue of Mother Mary in a church premises in Hyderabad on Tuesday, 27 September.
Both the women, who are mentally ill, have been arrested, the police said.
The burqa-clad women damaged the idol of goddess Durga in a pandal in the Khairatabad area of Hyderabad and then damaged the statue of Mother Mary after barging into a church premises in the AC Guards area. The women are sisters, and originally the residents of Jeddah.
The Hindu organisations in the city were reportedly irked at the incident.
They allegedly also tried to attack a local, who tried to stop them. The women were eventually handed over to the police by the locals.
Hyderabad (Central Zone) DCP Rajesh said that when they were questioned on the basis of CCTV footage, both the women were behaving strangely.
"They were unable to communicate properly, they weren’t even able to mention their names properly," the police said.
When the police reached the women’s house to further probe the matter, their mother did not open the door and allegedly started throwing things at them.
On further investigation and after questioning the father of the women, the police found out that the women have been suffering from a mental illness.
The DCP said that all four members of the family have been suffering from schizophrenia and have been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the Banjara Hills area.
Usually, the women’s father locks them inside the house before leaving. But on Tuesday, the women somehow managed to escape and ended up creating a nuisance, the police has claimed.
The police has arrested the women and charged them under sections 153A, 295, 295A, 451, and 504, read with 34, of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)