Mumbai: Catholics Shut School & Convent in Protest Against Desecration

Mumbai: Catholics Shut School & Convent in Protest Against Desecration

mangaloretoday.com

Mumbai, 14 July, 2014: Hundreds of locals, ensured that the St. Xavier’s School and St. Joseph’s Convent in Vile Parle (W) of suburban Mumbai was shut down for a day as a mark of protest against the desecration of a crucifix and to express solidarity with the mother of the accused, Agnelo Pereira who was falsely implicated. The protest ended with a prayer service led by Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Catholic Secular Forum and singing of hymns, with a decision to meet at the vandalized crucifix at 8 pm to decide the future course of action.

 

The Church decided not to have the evening mass in the church and to do so at 7 pm at the place of desecration. Apart from a large number of women, the nuns and priests regretted the incident, with some joining in the protest. Among those actively involved were Daryl D’souza, Ralph Misquitta, Gilroy Fernandes, Mallet Misquitta and youth like Ms. Alexsandra Heren, who provided the photos and The CSF thanked all those who stood up for the faith.

 

 

 

Yesterday, the parish community was joined in by representatives of The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum (MCYF) and the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) in a day long protest that ended almost at midnight against the wrongful arrest of a Catholic, Agnelo Pereira who according to the police version vandalized a crucifix on SV Road, near LIC, in Vile Parle (W) and would be produced in court today. This was the second time that the same crucifix was desecrated, as earlier in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, a similar situation had arisen. The police and even church authorities had then promised to book the culprits, but were rudely woken up by this incident.

 

The following anomalies in the police case were pointed out:

1. Only a few days earlier, the LIC security officer got the electricity supplier, Reliance Energy to disconnect electric current to the crucifix, which powered the lighting and CCTV coverage, making it suspect & look pre-planned.

2. The height of absurdity was when the police went ahead and registered a case under Section 295, even as the community and Church leaders said it was ridiculous for a Catholic to hurt Catholic religious sentiments.

3. The police arrested Agnelo Pereira on the sole witness of a drug addict and on the confession of the accused himself, ignoring pleas of the activists that many other suspects were not arrested, including the addict.

4. The crucifix is in the LIC compound and under the watchful eye of the LIC security officers, who should have been held responsible, rather than ruin the life & career of a mother and son by false accusations.

5. A vast majority of the protestors had no faith in the police investigations, as the authorities and politicians had failed to deliver results since 15 December last year when the same crucifix was desecrated.

6. Now faced with an action replay of the blasphemy, the police it would seem took the easy way out of arresting a Catholic, as arresting any one else would have given a communal flavour to the incident.

7. There have been no arrests and even forensic report of the last desecration was also not received, though months had lapsed. The police seem to have found a scapegoat to cover their lapses.

 

Yesterday, the activists joined hundreds of community members in prayer and made representations to the police, who seemed determined not to listen to either the Church authorities or even Janet D’souza, the Vice-Chairperson of the Maharashtra Minorities Commission, who visited the spot. Auxiliary bishop Savio Fernandes and the priests of St. Xavier’s Church, under whose jurisdiction the crucifix is under, visited the place and tried in vain to calm frayed tempers. Cardinal Oswald Gracias said, " Till date no updates have been provided to the Christian community at Vile Parle or to the Archdiocese of Bombay with regards to the investigation of the previous vandalisation which took place on December 15, 2013 and appealed to the Christian community to remain peaceful, calm and lift up the perpetrators of this crime in prayer.

The anger of the local Catholics were very much evident, when they took to task Gordon D’souza, president of the Bombay Catholic Sabha, who was from the parish but did little over the last 7 months, since the last desecration and only appeared in press statement. The locals therefore decided to take matters in the their hand and strive to get justice.