A day after a church in Navi Mumbai was vandalised, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday that the police had started a search for the attackers with the help of CCTV footage.
Stones were thrown at St. George Church in New Panvel in the early hours of Saturday, damaging the glass encasing of a statue.
“We will definitely nab the culprits. And whoever tries to create communal tension in Maharashtra by attacking places of worship will not be spared,” Mr. Fadnavis, who holds charge of the Home Ministry, told presspersons in Nagpur on Sunday.
“We are trying to establish the identity of the accused in the footage,” Fateh Singh Patil, Additional Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, told The Hindu . Christian community leaders have condemned the attack and called for immediate arrest of the accused. They warned of a strong, but peaceful backlash by the community in case of any such vandalism attempts in Mumbai. All the minority leaders in the State plan to hold a meeting this week to discuss the issue. They said the Navi Mumbai incident had brought the violence to the doorsteps of Mumbai.
Christians see a sinister pattern
Christian community leaders see a sinister pattern in attacks on churches, whether it is in Delhi, Haryana, Jabalpur or now Navi Mumbai.
Arresting the culprits promptly would send a message loud and clear that such acts of vandalism will not be tolerated in Maharashtra, a press statement issued by Save Our Land said.
The community leaders denied reports of a bandh of all church-run schools in Mumbai on March 25. “There are no such plans. It goes against the teachings of Christianity which believes in forgiving,” Abraham Mathai, president of Indian Christian Voice, said.
