Nineteen bishops of different churches in the state including Bangalore Archbishop Bernard Moras on Friday staged a protest here today with community leaders urging the state government to reject the Justice B K Somashekara Commission of Inquiry report on church attacks in Karnataka in 2008.
The bishops marched from Mahatma Gandhi statue to the state secretariat and presented a memorandum to home minister R Ashok on their charter of demands. They have sought a CBI probe into the church attacks carried out during the first 20 months of BJP’s rule in Karnataka. The delegation was of the view that the commission’s report was “partisan, biased, prejudiced and incomplete”.
‘’How can we accept a commission which fails to answer terms of reference but says something outside its purview by absolving the perpetrators?” the archbishop wondered. The delegation also demanded protection for Christians and compensation for victims of the attacks on churches and missionaries.
This is for the first time 13 bishops of Roman Catholics and six Bishops of various Protestant denominations have joined hands to condemn the Somashekara Commission report. Ashok promised to convey the demands of the bishops to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
They expressed disappointment over chief minister’s refusal to meet the 19 bishops. “It has hurt us deeply that the chief minister has declined to give an appointment to meet the 19 bishops. This is not a minor issue. Everybody, including the government and all political leaders, are aware of the service of Christians in the field of education, healthcare and social service,” Moras said.
Replying to their charter of demands, which included protection to Christian minorities and their places of worship, Ashok promised the delegation that the government would take steps to withdraw cases against 338 persons in connection with violence following attacks on churches in Mangalore and other places.
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He said a centralised cell will be set up to receive complaints on attack on churches and pass on the information to the police, to immediately act on such incidents.
Churches were randomly attacked in Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Kolar, Bellary, Davanagere, Chikkaballapura, Bhatkal, Kodagu and chief minister Yeddyurappa’s home district of Shimoga. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, of the 177 incidents of violence against Christians in 2009 in India, 72 were reported from Karnataka, the highest.
The Somashekara Commission of Inquiry, in its interim report, had held Bajrang Dal and Sri Rama Sene responsible for the attacks on churches. However, in the final report submitted recently, the Commission gave clean cheat to the two Hindutva organisations, leading to a furore among Christians.