Church fire: SIT formed but Christian community demands judicial probe
3 Dec 2014 11:59 PM GMT
On Tuesday morning, scores of members of the Christian community and social activists staged a protest outside the Delhi Police headquarters demanding a fair probe. The protesters even tried to enter the police headquarter to meet the police commissioner.
The protesters blocked ITO junction for almost two hours causing massive traffic jams on related routes and disrupting connectivity between east and central Delhi. Soon after a delegation led by Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto met the lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, he constituted a special investigation team headed by Ravindra Yadav joint commissioner of police (Crime) to probe the matter. Despite the assurance by the L-G, the leaders of the community asked for PM Narendra Modi’s intervention and demanded a judicial inquiry into the fire incident, which gutted the church.
“In their memorandums to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Archbishop also raised concern over hate speeches and targeted violence against the community, churches, pastors and its institutions in several states, particularly Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh,” an official statement said.
Meanwhile, the L-G assured Couto of zero tolerance against targeted and communal violence in the national Capital. The police have also registered an FIR against unknown persons for causing the fire with malicious intent on the complaint of the church’s parish priest Father Anthony Francis.
The protesters blocked ITO junction for almost two hours causing massive traffic jams on related routes and disrupting connectivity between east and central Delhi. Soon after a delegation led by Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto met the lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, he constituted a special investigation team headed by Ravindra Yadav joint commissioner of police (Crime) to probe the matter. Despite the assurance by the L-G, the leaders of the community asked for PM Narendra Modi’s intervention and demanded a judicial inquiry into the fire incident, which gutted the church.
“In their memorandums to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Archbishop also raised concern over hate speeches and targeted violence against the community, churches, pastors and its institutions in several states, particularly Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh,” an official statement said.
Meanwhile, the L-G assured Couto of zero tolerance against targeted and communal violence in the national Capital. The police have also registered an FIR against unknown persons for causing the fire with malicious intent on the complaint of the church’s parish priest Father Anthony Francis.
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