Idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri beheaded in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, ahead of Navami Puja
South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India 
27 October, 2025
Case Summary
An idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri was found decapitated in Mallikpur village under Mandir Bazaar in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal on the night of 28 October 2025. The incident occurred just days after a similar act in Kakdwip, where a Goddess Kali idol was found beheaded, sparking public outrage and the arrest of one person. According to local accounts, the Jagaddhatri idol was among several made by a woman artisan in Battala village ahead of Navami, the principal day of the Jagaddhatri Puja. She discovered that one of the idols had been decapitated and abandoned. Jagaddhatri Puja, celebrated predominantly on Navami, is regarded as a symbol of divine strength and maternal protection. The desecration of idols on the eve of worship was interpreted by locals as a deliberate attempt to offend Hindu sentiments. Leader of the Opposition of State Suvendu Adhikari condemned the incident, sharing visuals of the vandalised idol and accusing the state administration of appeasement politics. He stated that “Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal is leaving Bangladesh behind,” adding that repeated acts of idol desecration reflect growing hostility toward Hindu religious practices. Adhikari stated that the police and administration failed to protect Hindu devotees and artisans from such attacks.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Attack on Hindu religious representations. The subcategory under this is: Desecration of Hindu religious symbol. Icons and symbols or a religious representation of a spiritual ideal are widely revered in Hinduism. Iconography is of vital significance in the Hindu milieu. It helps connect people’s spiritual beliefs with the real world. Iconography within the Hindu faith takes several shapes and forms. Murtis are of most significance to Hindus, to which daily rituals, prayers and offerings are done. Besides the murtis, there are several other symbols which have deep significance in the Hindu faith – the Om and Swastika for example. Since these Hindu religious symbols hold paramount importance in Hinduism, any desecration of symbols, icons, murtis, religious representations and manifestations, is driven by animosity towards the faith itself which manifests itself through these murtis, icons and symbols. Therefore, any desecration of these Hindu religious symbols and representations is considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The incident involving the decapitation of the idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri in Mallikpur village under Mandir Bazaar, South 24 Parganas, qualifies as a hate crime rooted in animosity toward the Hindu faith. The timing, nature, and symbolic target of the act reveal a clear intention to insult and wound Hindu religious sentiments rather than to cause mere material damage. In Hinduism, the murti is not an ornament or work of art but an embodied form of divinity. The act of creating, consecrating, and worshipping an idol transforms it into a sacred presence within the temporal world. The decapitation of such an idol is, therefore, not a simple act of destruction but an assault upon the deity’s manifestation, the devotee’s relationship with the divine, and the community’s collective sanctity. The spiritual meaning of this act far exceeds the physical damage, it constitutes the symbolic annihilation of the deity’s form, a desecration that aims to desecrate belief itself. Within the Hindu epistemology, the head represents consciousness and divine wisdom; hence, the beheading of an idol carries the deliberate connotation of erasure and humiliation of the divine principle. The incident must also be read in context with the earlier desecration of the Goddess Kali idol in Kakdwip, also in South 24 Parganas, where the idol was found beheaded in a puja pandal during Diwali and Kali Puja celebrations. Taken together, the two acts, one against the ferocious protector form of the Mother Goddess and another against her nurturing and maternal aspect, display an unmistakable pattern. They represent successive assaults on two manifestations of the same divine feminine principle revered by Hindus across Bengal. The proximity in geography and timing, along with the similar method of desecration, reinforces the inference that these are not random crimes but expressions of religiously motivated contempt directed at Hindu worship and imagery. It is also significant that the perpetrators in the Kakdwip case were reported to be from the Muslim community, and that the pattern of desecration in both incidents followed a similar method—beheading of idols, specifically before or during major Hindu festivals. The selection of time and target reveals both forethought and intent to provoke. Such acts of desecration do not occur in a social vacuum; they arise from environments where Hindu symbols are routinely trivialised or vilified. Here, it is also important to mention that, though the last update was that the miscreants were unknown, regardless, the action stemmed from hatred against Hinduism and resulted in the desecration of the sacred idol and would therefore be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The destruction of the idol of Goddess Jagaddhatri is not incidental or apolitical vandalism; it is an attempt to erase and insult the tangible forms through which Hindus express reverence to the divine. Each such act embodies a message of exclusion, that Hindu worship, symbols, and public religious expressions are not to be respected or tolerated. The Jagaddhatri idol’s desecration stands as a grave instance of religiously motivated hate, combining spiritual violation, economic harm, and gendered desecration. By documenting such cases, the Tracker not only records acts of hostility but also exposes an emerging pattern of cultural aggression aimed at marginalising Hindu expressions of faith in their own sacred geography.
Case Status
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Perpetrators Details
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