Christian priest beaten to death

Christian priest beaten to death
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

MATHURA, JUNE 7: A Catholic priest has been murdered last night in his mission home, eight km away from the Cantonement area, reports reaching here said today.

Area Superintendent of Police Chandrika Rai has rushed to the spot immediately after receiving the information about the incident.

"Some persons, still to be identified, entered the house, locked up the servant, and then entered Brother George's room. They beat him to death and then escaped in the night," the reports said.

Meanwhile, All India Catholic Union (AICU) has alleged that though there were no indications about the motives, the crime seems to follow the pattern of violence at Kosi Kalan earlier this year in which a priest and two nuns were assaulted and their rooms ransacked.

The Union quoted Agra diocese Archbishop Vincent Concessao as saying, "Brother George, a 35-year-old member of the Borivili order, was found battered to death in Navada in the Advikipost area on the Mathura bypass."

Besides AICU, other church and human rights groups, including the United Christian Forum for Human Rights and the All India Christian Council, lodged strong protests with the government on the violence.

The Church groups also condemned the alleged attempt by the National Commission for Minorities, which sent a team to Mathura and Agra in April to probe the attacks on Christians, to "trivialise" the violence in its report.

A police spokesman told PTI here Mathura that brother George, who was the principal of the Missionary Bolonium Memorial school, was found dead in his home at the school campus.

The assailants hit the Brother with lathis and iron rods killing him on the spot, he said.

An FIR was lodged at Narhauli police station this morning by Brother Jones of the school, the spokesman said.