Outrage as youth damages memorial stone in Vasai Fort

A grab from the recent reel on Instagram that shows the youth defacing a memorial stone in the fort

The video of a memorial stone at the historic Vasai fort being damaged by a youth has gone viral on social media, eliciting outrage and calls for action against him. The youth appears to have carved an ‘S' on the stone to which he is seen setting fire with a song playing in the background that ends with ‘bewafa'.

The fort

The Vasai Fort was formally christened as the Fort of St. Sebastian in the Indo-Portuguese Era and is a monument of national importance protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It has memorial stones in the name of soldiers, created in 1680 by the Portuguese. There were around 250 martyred soldier's symbolic memorial stones in the fort but only 150 are visible today while others are damaged and destroyed, claim archaeologists.

Forts conservationist Shridatta Raut points to one of the memorial stones in the Vasai Fort. Pics/Hanif Patel

The Fort had two gates. It was also well-equipped with water-tanks, store-houses, armory, etc., and had fields for grains and vegetables. Today it has become a tourist attraction. Many people also visit it for pre-wedding or other photo and video shoots. Forts conservationist Shridatta Raut has written an email to ASI seeking action against the youth including an FIR for destroying and insulting a martyred soldier's memorial. So far no FIR has been registered in the matter.

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‘This is an insult'

Raut said, "The memorials were constructed by the Portuguese government in the memory of the soldiers in 1680. I found a reel on Instagram in which a youth wrote ‘S' on a memorial stone and set fire to it against a background song saying ‘bewafa'. This is the insult of soldiers who were martyred in the war."

Some of the memorial stones at the fort

"The stones are also destroyed due to the weather. Many visitors play cricket here and people walk on these memorials. There isn't a washroom in the fort so people are also dirtying it by relieving themselves in it. Many people dig up these memorial stones to check if there are valuables inside. In the past 22 years we have cleaned this fort more than 4,000 times but the authorities are not taking action to protect it. The government has deputed 14 security guards at this place but every day there are only 4 security guards here," he added.

Senior Inspector Ranjeet Andhale of Vasai police station said, "We have not received any complaint from ASI. If we receive a complaint we will take action in the matter." However, speaking to mid-day, superintendent with ASI, Kailash Shinde, in-charge of Vasai fort said, "We received a complaint regarding a man who created a reel on these memorial stones at Vasai fort for an Instagram video. We will inform the police and register an FIR in this matter. We are conducting an investigation."

150
No of memorial stones still visible