Incidents not related to attacks elsewhere in country, say police

While protesters rallying against attacks on Christians in Orissa say churches have come under attack in the Capital of late, the police call it only a coincidence that these incidents in Delhi have taken place at the same time.

According to locals and church officials, a mob at the Punjabi refugee colony in Peeragarhi attacked the church being constructed in their locality on September 9. Residents blame the church priest for allegedly encroaching on public land, and the attempts to convert people.

But Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern range) Ajay Kashyap says: “In Punjabi refugee colony, where people do not let even neighbours raise a concrete structure, how could they let an outsider (church) do it? People in Peeragarhi and Trilokpuri are probably not even aware of what is happening in Orissa and Karnataka.” The police, he says, are “alert and doing their best to maintain peace in the city”.

Newsline looks at some churches allegedly attacked:

PEERAGARHI

Subhash Chandar and Surinder Kaur say their son Raju, baptised in 2005, died in an accident the following year. A month later, their daughter-in-law died, and their younger son met the same fate within days, the couple says. They blame the bad omen on the family following Raju’s baptism. Raju is survived by a son, 5, and daughter, 4.

Raju’s last rites were performed as per Christian rituals, Chandra says, “and church people took his body. But they said they did not have space for our daughter-in-law. So we cremated her according to Hindu rites.”

... contd.