Karnataka - Mangalore   

Rights activists seek CBI probe into attacks

MANGALORE: A fact-finding committee comprising 17 human rights activists from six States that visited Mangalore on Friday and Saturday has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the recent attacks on Christian prayer halls and people of the community.

The activists included those from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Maharashtra, and from the State.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday on behalf of the team, K. Balagopal of the Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh, said: “…since the local police have shown themselves to be partisan, the investigation must be handed over to the CBI. All the incidents of attacks should be expeditiously and fairly investigated.” He said that the team had visited Adoration Monastery, Milagres; St. Sebastian Church, Permannur; the Church of South India, Kodical; the Holy Cross Church, Kulakshekara; and the St. Joseph Workers’ Church, Vamanjoor.

Mr. Balagopal said that the committee had demanded that the Government “register attacks at Permannur, Kulashekar and Vamanjoor as criminal offences against the Superintendent of Police and the inspectors concerned. They should be kept under suspension while the offences are investigated by the CBI.”

The State Government should pay full compensation for the damage caused to the churches and the other Christian institutions. Full security should be provided to Christians. As recommended by the Sachar Committee, it is necessary to post adequate number of police officers belonging to the minority communities in such areas, he said. Mr. Balagopal said that the State Government should make it clear that complaints of forcible conversion should be made only to the authorities concerned. Nobody should be allowed to make it an excuse for attacks on places of worship, he said.

The police should strictly abide by the law and the Supreme Court guidelines while making arrests, he said.

Referring to arrest of four persons of the Muslim community in connection with suspected terrorist links, in Mangalore recently, he said: “We do not wish to say anything about their innocence or guilt, but it has to be pointed out that the police acted contrary to the law and the directions of the Supreme Court.”

“The police did not identify themselves, did not issue any arrest warrant, did not inform the relatives of the arrested persons and did not tell them where they are being taken to,” he said. The police said that they had been arrested in connection with the investigation of offences of a “terrorist character.” “But it is strange that similar urgency has not been shown in arresting the Bajrang Dal activists who have equally terrorised the Christian community in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. This divergent attitude towards terror on the part of the State depending on the community and political identity of the alleged perpetrators is nothing but hypocrisy,” he said.

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