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Byculla church members cry foul over ‘boycott’

If a person is a registered member of the Church of North India (CNI), he/she enjoys the privileges of voting for the committee members, filing nominations for committee election among others

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Victoria Garden church (Hume Memorial Congregation) at Byculla
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Seventeen members of Hume Memorial Congregation (Victoria Garden Church) at Byculla have alleged that the church authorities have boycotted them.

The members, belonging to seven families wrote a complaint to Byculla police station in September and again in November 2017 alleging that their church has discontinued their membership since 2014 and have boycotted them from offering Sunday offerings and performing other rituals. 

If a person is a registered member of the Church of North India (CNI), he/she enjoys the privileges of voting for the committee members, filing nominations for committee election among others. 

Nandan Gaikwad, one of the boycotted members  said, “I along with nine others were member of church committee who used to pay the assessment amount to the Bombay Diocesan Council quarterly. In 2014, when the council asked the church committee to pay an amount of around Rs. 2 lakh, the committee was only able to pay Rs.1.15lakh as some of the amount was spent on church renovation. After this our committee was discontinued.”

The assessment amount sent to Diocesan, salaries of the priests are disbursed. 

The Bishop of Bombay Diocesan Council and the pastor of the church remained unavailable for comments.

An anonymous church official said, “In a disciplinary action only voting rights of some members are taken off. But their membership has not been stopped. It is a baseless allegation.”

Avinash Shingte, senior inspector of Byculla police station said, “After an investigation, it was found that there is no boycott of church members in church. Only their membership was disqualified by the church because of not paying some assessment amount.”

THE COMPLAINT

  • The members, belonging to seven families, complained to Byculla police station in September and again in November 2017 alleging that their church has discontinued their membership since 2014 and have boycotted them from offering Sunday prayers and performing other rituals
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