A newly opened church in west Delhi’s Matiala was allegedly vandalised by miscreants while devotees were holding Sunday mass, police said, adding that one of the accused has been arrested.
According to locals, a group of 20 to 30 people were holding Sunday mass at Ankur Narula Church around 11 a.m., when a group of miscreants, allegedly belonging to Bajrang Dal, came and disrupted the proceedings. Further, they went on to vandalise the church’s entrance and signboard and allegedly manhandled a few devotees attending the prayer.
A woman who was part of the prayer, requesting anonymity, said that a group of 30 to 40 people entered the church, which had opened only a week ago, and started using foul language at the worshippers. She added that the group arrived at the church again towards the evening and vandalised it. “All of them were armed and we managed to catch hold of one of them who confessed that he belonged to the group,” the woman said.
However, according to a senior police officer, the place was originally a godown, which was turned into a church recently. The officer said after receiving information about the violence, a police team from Bindapur police station rushed to the spot and took statements from both the parties.
‘Godown turned church’
“The locals raised objections and claimed that the godown had been turned into a church overnight and started raising slogans and vandalising the place,” the officer said.
An FIR has been registered against the miscreants under Sections of rioting and a case has also been lodged against those attending the mass for violating DDMA guidelines related to COVID-19, the officer said. Efforts are on to identify the miscreants, the officer added.
