VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating that the Police Department is committed to protecting places of worship in the State from attacks, besides maintaining communal harmony, Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang on Tuesday directed police officials to take stringent action against those who spread false and unverified news on social media platforms pertaining to temples and religious matters.
“Some miscreants are intentionally resorting to spreading false news with respect to temples to foment communal passions. Take stringent action against such mischievous elements,’’ the DGP instructed the police officials during a webinar.
In the webinar with the SPs of all the 13 districts and Commissioners of Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, the DGP reviewed the progress of investigation pertaining to attacks on temples in the State from September 5, 2020.
As many as 58,871 temples in the state have been geo-tagged and 43,824 CCTV cameras installed as part of measures to strengthen surveillance to prevent attacks.
A total of 15,394 village defence squads have also been formed to step up vigil.
Another 7,862 village defence squads will be constituted soon. A total of 337 persons have been arrested in connection with 180 temple offence cases. The services of village defence squads should be effectively utilised by police, the DGP said.
Sawang reportedly donated money for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya by sending a cheque to the Ram Mandir Trust on Tuesday.