By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,

Kolkata: Kolkata is right now communally tense and an incident of violence has been reported from neighboring Howrah district. Companies of Rapid Action Force have been deployed in sensitive areas. Tension spread after publication of a provocative nude image of a model holding a frame of Hindu deity Durga with the face of Sachin Tendulkar and bat in one hand and a Pakistani cricket player bowing down before it.

The image was published on Monday in t2, the entertainment supplementary of Kolkata-based English daily The Telegraph. India had defeated Pakistan on Sunday in an Asia Cup cricket match on Sunday.

The photo was taken from the twitter account of model Poonam Pandey. In the image a nude girl is standing and holding a frame of Durga with the face of Sachin on to the ground and a player in green dress with star logo on his chest is doing a ‘sajda’ before the frame.

On Tuesday a communal incident has reportedly happened in Tikiapara area of Howrah district. Details are awaited.

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in New Delhi for last some days, has appealed to people to maintain peace.

The Telegraph today published an apology on front page wherein it said the photo was reproduced from the twitter account because of a technical error and the daily had no intention to hurt the sentiments of any community.

“A tweet by @iPoonampandey was reproduced in t2 on March 19 because of a technical error. The Telegraph had no intention to hurt the sentiments of any community. We apologise for publishing the tweet,” reads the daily’s apology.

