WATCH: Bahraini woman arrested for smashing Hindu statues

The Bahraini interior ministry says it will refer a woman for prosecution after a video of her angrily smashing Hindu statues in a shop appeared on social media.
2 min read
16 August, 2020
The woman was angered by a display of Hindu statues [Getty Archive Image]
A woman is being investigated by Bahraini authorities after a video of her smashing statues in a shop appeared on social media.

The woman, who is reported to be in her forties, was angered when she saw the statues, which represented Hindu deities, in a department store in the Jufair area of the Bahraini capital Manama.

Bahrain is a Muslim majority country and the Islamic faith is strictly monotheistic, forbidding any portrayal of divine beings.

In the video, the woman can be heard asking angrily, “This is a Muslim country, right? Why is this here?” before picking up one of the statues and smashing it on the floor of the shop.

She then threw at least four more statues to the ground, breaking some of them.

“Does [Bahraini king] Hamad bin Isa accept this?” she said as a shop worker looked on helplessly.

The Bahraini interior ministry said that the woman could face charges related to destruction of property and breaking objects associated with a religious faith.

Nearly all of Bahrain’s citizens are Muslims but like in other Gulf countries, foreign workers outnumber citizens.

Indians, most of whom follow the Hindu faith, are the largest single expatriate group, numbering an estimated 400,000 out of a total Bahraini population of 1.3 million.

Last year Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been criticised for anti-Muslim policies at home, said he would invest US$4 million in the renovation of the 200 year-old Sree Krishna temple in Bahrain.

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