Six held for vandalising church in MP

Jabalpur, March 23

Six persons allegedly involved in vandalising a cathedral premises and a Catholic school, where people had gathered for a religious convention, were arrested in the wee hours today.

“We have arrested six persons involved in attacking the Catholic school and cathedral premises,” Jabalpur’s Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Isha Pant told PTI.

Those arrested have been identified as Dharam Sena leader Yogesh Agrawal, and his associates Nitin Rajak, Prateek Pyasi, Anurag Choukse, Abhishek Choukse and Sharad Rao, the ASP said.

They have been booked under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 294 (punishment for obscene acts or words in public), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, besides other relevant sections, she said.

The incident took place on March 20 and in the wee hours of March 21 when some members of the Christian community were allegedly assaulted and threatened by activists of the Bajrang Dal and the Dharam Sena who attacked the school and a parsonage alleging that religious conversion had been taking place there.

The church authorities had alleged that the accused stormed into the Cathedral premises and a school housing a grotto with St Mary’s idol. They broke earthen pots and shattered glass panes of windows of the parsonage, charging Father Thankachan Jose with converting Hindus to Christianity.

Ravi Francis, claiming to be a witness, had earlier said that he was roughed up by Dharam Sena and Bajrang Dal activists who stormed into Saint Thomas School campus, where some people who came for a convention were staying.

Though Fr Thankachan and police officials held talks with leaders of the Hindu outfits to ease the situation, some of them stormed into the premises and started abusing them, he alleged.

Police sought to chase them from the campus, but they refused to give in and marched to the nearby Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral where the first day of the convention was held.

They then barged into the Cathedral premises shouting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and demanded that Fr Thankachan be handed over to them. As they could not find him there, they vandalised the parsonage, close to the Cathedral, Francis said.

“Though our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, it is being violated openly,” Fr Thankachan said.

The church had given the CCTV footage of the incident to the police.

The six arrested persons were later granted bail at the Cantonment Police Station on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each, Jabalpur Superintendent of Police H C Mishra said.

A representative of the church expressed disappointment on letting off the accused on bail immediately after the arrest.

A delegation of Christian community members led by St Peter and Paul Cathedral’s parish priests Father James D’Souza met Jabalpur range Inspector General of Police D Sriniwas Roa and lodged a protest over the bail granted to the six accused.

When contacted, the IG said that community members had met him in the morning and handed over the CCTV footage of the alleged incidents to him.

No breakthrough in Navi Mumbai church attack 

 Meanwhile, police have no break through in the Saturday’s church attack case in neighbouring Maharashtra even as the set off a heated debate in the assembly.

In reply to a question raised in the assembly, the Maharashtra government said it suspected a "political hand" in attack on the Navi Mumbai church, prompting the opposition to walk out in protest.

Minority Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse said: “A foreign hand, anti-social elements or a political person may be involved in the incident. A political hand cannot be ruled out. Detailed facts would be revealed before the end of the ongoing Legislature session," Khadse said.

The minister said his government was committed to protect the lives and properties of citizens. "We will take care to ensure that such inappropriate incidents do not take place in future," he said.

Objecting to reply, NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal called the government was insensitive and accused it of politicising the affair.

The police have so far found that two masked men who were riding pillion on a motorcycle hurled stones at the Saint George Catholic Church in the wee hours of Saturday. There has, however, been little progress in the case since, prompting the opposition to question the delay in the case. — PTI