Crib found burnt in Delhi church, foul play suspected
5 Jan 2015 4:57 AM IST
The incident took place at Church of Resurrection in Rohini and the charred Christmas crib was first noticed on Saturday morning by Father Cyril Patrick, the parish priest of the Church, which is under the Latin rite archdiocese of Delhi. “I noticed the crib completely burnt after the morning mass. The crib was intact when I closed the gate around 11 pm on Friday night but on Saturday it was found charred,” said Father Patrick.
Reacting to the incident Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien tweeted, “Have just received pictures of The Nativity Scene crib now burnt down in Rohini Delhi church. Sad. Using my discretion and not putting up pics.”
“Not again. Bishop of Delhi just informed me about another Delhi church fire. Crib burnt down in Rohini. No progress on Dec 1 incident & now this,” another tweet by Derek read.
Meanwhile, soon after the incident, the local police was informed and they rushed to the spot. The officers inspected the CCTV footage to get some lead into the fire. The Christmas crib was put up in a corner of the church campus.
Another parishioner KJ Thomas suspected that the use of some inflammable material to set fire cannot be ruled especially when it was raining in the area during the night and morning.
“Earlier, St Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden was gutted under a similar mysterious fire on December 1, 2014. But there has been no progress in the probe. A week later, the window glasses of the Syro-Malabar church in Jasola, south Delhi, was broken after someone threw stones at it while the evening Mass was on. In this case too no one has been booked. This is a serious matter and need to be taken seriously,” Spokesperson of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese Savarimuthu Sankar said.
Recently, on December 24, 2014, Delhi Archbishop Anil JT Couto along with other Christian delegates met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised concern over the conversion issue in the name of ‘ghar vapasi’ and attacks on churches.
PM Modi had assured them that the government will do the needful for the safety of minorities in India. But even after an assurance from the Prime Minister himself, such incidents are now forcing the minorities to raise their safety concern in large platform.
Not only the minorities, but the Opposition parties too attacked the government for allowing RSS and its affiliates to go ahead with their conversion and ‘ghar vapasi’ campaigns and attacks on churches.
Reacting to the incident Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien tweeted, “Have just received pictures of The Nativity Scene crib now burnt down in Rohini Delhi church. Sad. Using my discretion and not putting up pics.”
“Not again. Bishop of Delhi just informed me about another Delhi church fire. Crib burnt down in Rohini. No progress on Dec 1 incident & now this,” another tweet by Derek read.
Meanwhile, soon after the incident, the local police was informed and they rushed to the spot. The officers inspected the CCTV footage to get some lead into the fire. The Christmas crib was put up in a corner of the church campus.
Another parishioner KJ Thomas suspected that the use of some inflammable material to set fire cannot be ruled especially when it was raining in the area during the night and morning.
“Earlier, St Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden was gutted under a similar mysterious fire on December 1, 2014. But there has been no progress in the probe. A week later, the window glasses of the Syro-Malabar church in Jasola, south Delhi, was broken after someone threw stones at it while the evening Mass was on. In this case too no one has been booked. This is a serious matter and need to be taken seriously,” Spokesperson of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese Savarimuthu Sankar said.
Recently, on December 24, 2014, Delhi Archbishop Anil JT Couto along with other Christian delegates met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised concern over the conversion issue in the name of ‘ghar vapasi’ and attacks on churches.
PM Modi had assured them that the government will do the needful for the safety of minorities in India. But even after an assurance from the Prime Minister himself, such incidents are now forcing the minorities to raise their safety concern in large platform.
Not only the minorities, but the Opposition parties too attacked the government for allowing RSS and its affiliates to go ahead with their conversion and ‘ghar vapasi’ campaigns and attacks on churches.
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