Two people have been arrested in the Indian state of Gujarat for recently attacking an idol of a Hindu deity at a temple in a bid to make a sensational video for Chinese app TikTok. The incident occurred in Rajkot. According to the police, the accused shot a TikTok clip and uploaded it to WhatsApp and social media on 28 June.
Police said that the two perpetrators, identified as Dinesh Mahida, 25, and Jayesh Chudasma, 27, committed the crime while intoxicated.
A video of the incident going viral on social media shows Jayesh kicking the idol inside a temple and damaging it while Dinesh shot it. Jayesh can also be seen smoking inside the temple's premises.
Shot for TikTok, youths arrested for desecrating idol in a temple in Rajkot pic.twitter.com/np0emPbXxr
— Rahul (@RahulBh37100165) July 2, 2020
After the video began making the rounds on social media, Karan Parmar, a resident of the city found the video extremely offensive and hurt his religious sentiments and approached the police.
"Following the complaint, the accused were traced and arrested. During questioning they revealed that they were looking for a subject to make a TikTok video and decided that the desecration of an idol in a temple would make a sensational video", a senior Rajkot police official said.
He further stated that the accused claimed to have made another video in which they apologised for their act and uploaded it on social media platforms.
The news comes as India has banned 59 Chinese apps, citing security concerns. The Ministry of Information Technology stated that it has been receiving numerous complaints from both Android and iOS users about unauthorised app data leaks and transmissions to servers outside of India.
