A member of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who vandalised a nine-feet tall bronze statue of the primary ruler of the Sikh Empire Maharaja Ranjit Singh, walked free after a neighborhood court docket granted him bail on Friday.
The statue was vandalised on Tuesday by the 22-year-old activist of the banned TLP on the Lahore Fort in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
“As the offences mentioned in the FIR were bailable in nature, the judicial magistrate on Friday granted post-arrest bail to Mohammad Rizwan against furnishing the bail bonds worth Pakistani rupees 50,000,” a court docket official informed PTI.
He mentioned the legislation officer opposed the bail, arguing that the activist had defamed the nation and subsequently shouldn’t be given bail.
“But the defence lawyer argued that all sections mentioned in the FIR are bailable offences…thus the magistrate granted the bail to 22-year-old worker of TLP,” he mentioned.
Rizwan was booked underneath sections 295 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
It was the third time when the statue of Ranjit Singh was vandalised since its unveiling on the Lahore Fort in June 2019 to commemorate the ruler’s one hundred and eightieth loss of life anniversary.
This time the spiritual activist pulled down the statue from the horse. A video of the act went viral during which the vandal might be heard shouting slogans whereas smashing the statue.
Security guards had arrested Rizwan on the spot. Police mentioned the suspect had used a hammer to inflict harm on the statue.
India slammed the act of vandalism, saying Pakistan has utterly failed in its responsibility to forestall such assaults that are making a “climate of fear” among the many minority communities.
India’s External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi mentioned incidents of violence in opposition to minority communities, together with assaults on their locations of worship, their cultural heritage, in addition to their personal property, had been growing at an “alarming rate” in Pakistan.
“We have seen disturbing reports in the media about the vandalisation of the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore today. This is the third such incident wherein the statue has been vandalised, since it was unveiled in 2019,” Bagchi mentioned.
“Such attacks on the cultural heritage of minority communities in Pakistan highlight the growing intolerance and lack of respect for minority communities in Pakistani society,” he mentioned.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has ordered restoration of the statue to its authentic kind.
The Lahore Fort administration had beefed up safety following the earlier two assaults, however the TLP employee managed to vandalise the statue within the presence of the safety guards who later overpowered him.
In June 2019, Ranjit Singh’s statue was unveiled in a vibrant ceremony during which a number of Sikh delegates from India, Pakistan and different nations had participated.
The occasion was organised by Bobby Singh Bansal, from the UK, in collaboration with the Walled City of Lahore Authority.
The statue, made from chilly bronze, reveals the regal Sikh emperor sitting on a horse, sword in hand, full in Sikh apparel.
Sculpted by native artists, underneath the aegis of the Fakir Khana Museum, the statue is supposed to invoke the sensation of the emperor being current, with its real-life proportions, and was unveiled on his one hundred and eightieth loss of life anniversary. Ranjit Singh handed away in 1839.
“The project was meant to commemorate the 180th death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and to forge a lasting friendship amongst the people of Punjab,” Bansal had mentioned.
His organisation SK Foundation UK commissioned the statue in 2016. “We donated it to the people of Pakistan to promote Sikh heritage and tourism here,” he had mentioned.
