Toronto: A prominent Hindu temple in Canada’s Ontario province has been vandalised by unknown people with “anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti”, in what is described by police as a “hate-motivated incident”.
In a statement, the police in Ontario’s Windsor city said that it has launched an investigation and looking for two suspects. The high commission of India in Ottawa, Canada, has strongly condemned the act of vandalism.
“We have taken up with the Canadian authorities the hateful act of putting anti India graffiti on the walls of BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Windsor. We strongly condemn this act of vandalism,” the mission said in a tweet. The Windsor Police Service said officers were dispatched to theHindu temple following a report of hate-motivated vandalism. “Officers discovered anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti sprayed in black on an exterior wall of the building,” the police said in a statement. Officers obtained a video that shows two suspects in the area, one suspect appears to commit the vandalism on the wall of the building while the other keeps watch, it said.
In January, the Gauri Shankar temple in Brampton was targeted with anti-India graffiti. The Indian Consulate General in Toronto had said the defacing of the temple had deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada. At least three similar acts of vandalism have been recorded in Canada last year.