Tripura: Christian shrine demolished on forbidden ‘holy’ land.

Agartala: A makeshift structure like a place of worship of a Christian community was “arbitrarily” demolished in a village inhabited by a Jamatiya tribe called Kamlai in Impi under Amarpur sub-division of Gomti district.

The structure was demolished as it allegedly fell within the jurisdiction of the “sacred precincts” of the area traditionally used for the Kir Puja performed in August.
Christian shrine, the incident took place on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest Hindu festival in the state.

Police officials said the structure needed to be cleaned as it was built on government land where no one should be allowed to encroach according to law.
“As soon as we were informed about the prevailing situation in the village, we reached there and called a peace meeting between the villagers of the two communities. Sub-divisional magistrate MP was also informed to take appropriate action against the violators. After the meeting, the issue was resolved amicably but in case of further trouble, sufficient troops of Tripura State Rifles and policemen were deployed for the entire night,” said SDPO Ampi Uttambank.
About 150 Jamia families live in Kamlai village. While the majority follow Hinduism, about 25 families follow Christianity.

To perform their religious rituals, the Christian villagers built a temporary shrine on government land but faced objections from their Hindu neighbors. Hindus said that the place of worship comes within the boundaries of the earth.
A video of local villagers demolishing the structure went viral on social media platforms, fueling rumors of a violent face-off between the two communities.

However, the police administration has denied any reports of clashes.