Mangalore : As the preliminary and final Justice B K Somashekar commission report on the Mangalore church attacks of 2008 are contradictory in nature, the state cabinet, on August 28th, directed the Law minister to look into it and recommend whether to accept the report.
Christians had earlier held a huge protest demanding that the State Government under Yeddiyurappa should entrust the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and reject the “distorted” Somasekhar report.
The memorandum given by the protesters highlighted the flaws of the Somasekhar report. “The report gives only district-wise incidents of church attacks; it has failed to give a statewide picture. There were systematic attacks at the same time in an organised manner in Karnataka, which is not explained by the commission. The commission accepts the excess of force by police in places like Permannur and Kulashekar in Dakshina Kannada district. The commission admits the lapse of officials in number of places. Yet the commission gives a clean chit to the officials and police personnel, which was contradictory.”
The report of the Nongovernmental fact finding committee:
A fact-finding committee, comprising 17 activists from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka and Maharashtra which had visited Mangalore to look into the violence in Mangalore, had stated that the attacks were carried out by the Bajrang Dal and the Sri Rama Sene (a local Hindu group). The team said the ‘planned attacks’ were aimed at causing hurt and resentment among Christians. It was also used as a pretext by the police to let lose a savage assault on the community and its sacred institutions, the report said.
The report states that on September 14, Bajrang Dal activists attacked the Adoration Centre at Milagres Church in the heart of the city and the CSI Church at Kodical without provocation. The two attacks took place almost simultaneously at about 10.15 am. At Kodical there was nobody in the church. About 30 to 35 persons, who had masks covering their faces, came on motorbikes and ransacked the church with iron pipes, cricket stumps and sticks. They shouted pro Bajrang Dal slogans. By the time members of the church rushed there, the assailants had fled. The report also says the police arrived without any intimation from the victims within five minutes. They cleaned the debris and took it away without performing any inquest.
The team also visited Adoration Centre, Milagres, St Sebastian Church, Peramannur, the CSI Church, Kodical, Holy Cross Church, Kulsekhar and St Joseph, The Worker Church, Vamanjoor. The team also spoke to the IG of Police, Western Range. At each place the team spoke to a number of witnesses and victims.
At Milagres, about 15 persons on motorbikes shouting pro-Bajrang Dal slogan entered the Adoration Centre and attacked it with lathis desecrating even a plaster of Paris figure of Christ on the cross. A couple who had come to pray were beaten, the report said.
The police who came after a complaint was lodged were more interested in interrogating the nuns than in investigating the assaults. A policemen warned members not to allow the media to take photographs or video.
When the Christian community undertook protests in the form of road blockades and dharnas at various places including Mangalore city, the police suddenly became active and imposed prohibitory orders. At Milagres the police chased and fired tear-gas shells at the protesting Christians. When the latter ran into the compound of the Adoration Centre and threw stones at the police, the police threw back the stones and also glass bottles and caused further damage to the Centre, the report stated.
The team concluded that the events and responses clearly indicate complete license given to the Bajrang Dal by the police. The police conducted themselves as activists of the Bajrang Dal and not as officers of the law, under the benign gaze of the friendly state government, the report states.
Insofar as the allegation of forced conversions goes, the IG himself said that there are no complaints, the report stated. With reference to the abusive booklet which the Bajrang Dal had made much of, the police are still investigating who published it. In any case no such aberration can be made an excuse for attacks on places of worship, the report states.
