Temple priests and devotees in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are terrified after half a dozen temples were vandalised and burgled in the last ten days, with cash stolen from contribution boxes and even jewellery adorning idols stolen.
On January 15, a failed break-in at the Shri Hanuman Mandir in Brampton, Ontario, sparked a series of incidents targeting temples. The criminals appear to have gone on a rampage since then, undeterred.
Another temple in Brampton, the Maa Chintpurni Mandir, was broken into on January 25, followed by a series of similar incidents at the Gauri Shankar Mandir and Jagannath Temple, both in Brampton, as well as the Hindu Heritage Centre in Mississauga and the Hamilton Samaj Temple in the days that followed.
On January 30, two persons broke into the Hindu Heritage Centre (HHC) in Mississauga and rummaged through donation boxes and destroyed the main office. “This tragedy has left devotees and priests traumatised,” the temple said in a statement.
According to security camera footage supplied with the Hindustan Times, each of these break-ins appears to include two people and occurred between 2 and 3 a.m. Images of the invaders show masked individuals wearing winter clothing and carrying a backpack who appeared to spend a significant amount of time investigating the temple grounds for cash in contribution boxes or other valuables such as jewellery adorning the idols.
“Peel Police have confirmed to Hindu Heritage Centre that it is the same group of individuals who are breaking into temples early in the morning,” the Hindu Heritage Centre in Mississauga stated in a statement.
The temple’s security has been beefed up, with volunteers working graveyard shifts to keep the premises safe. “Police have also stated that patrols near the shrine will be increased. The high number of temple break-ins has startled and horrified the community, according to the statement.
“I feel scared when preparing for early morning prayer and keep looking around to make sure no one is there. I turn on all the lights and make sure to look out the windows before opening the temple,” Pandit Yadu Nath Sharma of the HHC said.
Devotees are equally concerned. As one of them Shubham Bharadwaj said, “I am very disheartened to hear about temples being broken into. I was very surprised to see this type of activity happening in Canada. With the number of temples broken into in a short time, this is becoming a serious law and order issue that I hope the police will be able to solve soon.”
