‘Game show’ inside Bhiwandi Ganesh pandal

Pic By PAWS
By Pradeep Gupta

Bhiwandi has the dubious distinction of having a Ganesh pandal inside which animals were confined and treated cruelly. Two cobras were being constantly prodded or smacked with a stick to make them aggressively open their hoods to devotees. Two pigeons with their feet tied were also kept inside the pandal for added effect.

Interestingly, the pandal, Swargiya late Nan Mitra Mandal, belongs to Shiv Sena leader Sainath Pawar.

A snake charmer wearing saffron robes was seated inside torturing the cobras, hitting them on the head to prevent them from curling up in the small basket. This was being done to allow the continuous stream of visitors see the snakes with their hoods open.

The pigeons in the meanwhile, struggled to keep their distance from the cobras.

On being tipped off, the Mumbai based PAWS (Plant & Animals Welfare Society) Mumbai lodged a complaint with the Forest Department and the Thane Police, alleging that a Bhiwandi based Ganesh Mandal was violating the laws pertaining to wild and protected animals laws by illegally keeping two cobras and birds to attract devotees and visitors.

Sunish Subramanian, the PAWS-Mumbai activist who made the complaint said, “On Monday after we got information about the cruel treatment of protected creatures, we went across to Bhiwandi and found devotees inside the pandal taking blessings from a cobra and putting cash offering in a box. The cobra was constantly prodded to say upright. The snake charmer, Dhulanath had brought the cobras from MP. A cobra is protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and comes under Schedule – I animals.”

However, the surprising thing is that when the Forest Department officials raided the pandal, they found no animals or birds present. Obviously, the mandal was tipped off by someone from inside the law enforcement department.

When our reporter asked Sainath Pawar about the cobras and the pigeons, he denied any involvement, saying. “We did not call any snake charmer to display the cobras. The man came here uninvited, and sat in our pandal. When our workers saw him they send him out.”

However, when confronted with the photographic evidence provided by the NGO and asked how come he was aware about the man occupying his pandal with the pigeons and the cobras from two full days, Pawar refused to make any comment.