Since December last year, this is the 5th incidence that churches were attacked and vandalized. Now, police are probing the attack on the Church in Hisar district. Father Subhash Chand was away to Ambala, when his under construction Williwarsh church was desecrated in Kaimri village of Hisar. Whosoever attacked the church, he was keeping strict vigil on the activities of father Chand, because the moment father moved he attacked the church. The Haryana Police have in the meanwhile deployed a large number of personnel in the village and restricted the entry of outsiders to prevent the incident from snowballing into a major one. The church was coming up in an unauthorised colony in Kaimri village. Like all other residents, Subhash Chand had bought a plot there and was constructing a house. However, he complained that a month ago when he installed a cross outside the house, activists of the Bajrang Dal had objected about his action.
On his return from Ambala, Subhash Chand found the place vandalised. Inside the building the Holy Cross had been damaged and an idol of Lord Hanuman had been installed. A flag with the image of Lord Ram had also been installed there. Yet police has not identified the culprit. There are probabilities that this act was done to tarnish the image of Modi and his party. No one would do such obvious attempt to indicate themselves as Hindus. Right now, India is destabilised by hardliners of every religion and political leaders play fuel in the fire. Media goes way beyond to create sensation and innocent citizen pays the price for such incidents.
Father had named 14 persons who had threatened him earlier in the complaint. Subsequently a case was registered under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between groups), 295 (destroying, damaging a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class of persons), 380 (theft in a building), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. Police also alleged that his scooter and some other items had been stolen from the premises. We should ignore such incidences and declare it as an act of other small groups of idiots and uncivilized people?
It started on December 2, 2014, the interiors of St. Sebastian’s Church, Dilshad Garden, Delhi were destroyed in a fire. The police registered an FIR against unknown persons for causing the fire with malicious intent. On December 7, 2014, stones were thrown at a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at Jasola in Okhla when mass was being celebrated. Though no-one was injured; windowpanes on the first floor of the church were shattered. Panicked participants of the mass rushed out in alarm.
Almost a month after a church was gutted in East Delhi, January 4, this year, a crib kept on the premises of the Church of Resurrection in Rohini was found. Police suspected it as a case of short-circuit; the church officials are, however, claiming that someone threw a burning substance on the crib to set it on fire. The head priest of the church, Father Cyril Patrick, was the one to notice the charred crib. He strongly believes that was surely not a case of short-circuit. The CCTV footage recorded at 2 a.m. shows a burning object falling inside the church premises.
On January 14, this year, a church in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri was vandalised by two men. The church authorities claim that the attack was carried out to stoke communal tension. The entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity of the church. Around 6.30 a.m. when the priest arrived at the church, he found the glass cabinet mounted on the outside wall broken and the statue of Mother Mary lying on the ground. With video footage, it is learnt that those two men (in the age group of 40) on a motorcycle vandalising the church in two phases: first by breaking the glass cabinet and returning shortly after to push the statue causing a fall. However, police is yet to find out those ‘two men’ also. Inspite of having video footage and vigilance, the attackers are not in police net.
I wonder why certain groups in India prefer to go the Pakistan way. Minorities are not safe in that country too. Even India must take lessons from the deplorable condition of its neighbour. Pakistan has been reduced to a rag-tag state because of extremism and terrorism. Their economy is in doldrums and there is no progress at all. Every time a Mosque or a Synagogue or Temple is vandalised in the US, the minorities of the US do not blame Obama or the Republican Party (which is openly supported by majority of Christian Organizations in the US).
Minority and majority should learn to ‘Live and Let Live’. India is ultimately more tolerant country than any other nation in the world. There are lots of other beautiful and friendly countries in the world to visit. Religion is the root cause of lot of evil in people’s mind. Can’t we live with each other despite differences?
