A group of Hindu hardliners have allegedly attacked and vandalised a Catholic church in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, accusing missionaries of converting Hindus to Christianity. Source: UCA News.
About 200 activists belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Council of Hindus) arrived in vehicles carrying bricks and bamboo sticks at about 6pm on October 9 and tried to force their way into St. Louis Church in Jalalkhai village, Nadia district, parish priest Fr Jithin Muthukattil said.
“However, a group of parishioners tried to lock the entrance gate and barricade it with bamboo to prevent the mob from entering,” said Fr Muthukattil, a member of the indigenous Vincentian Congregation of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church.
“But the attackers pelted stones, threw bricks and forcibly entered the church premises, vandalised the makeshift gates, and the glass covers of statues, including the statue of Jesus Christ,” he added.
During the ensuing chaos, more than 10 men and women who resisted the attackers were beaten before police arrived at about 7pm. A parishioner had called Nadia District Magistrate Shrikant Pandit for help, Fr Muthukattil said.
“Police brought the violent and volatile situation under control but did not arrest the culprits,” said Samir Lahiri, secretary of the Krishnagar Diocesan Laity Commission.
Fr Muthukattil said about 1900 Santhal Christians from neighbouring areas had gathered for a four-day annual prayer convention scheduled to begin October 8 at the Divine Love Retreat Centre, which is attached to the parish.
“But because of the attack and threats, we ended it on October 10 after the Holy Mass and breakfast,” he said, adding that the event had faced no hostility in the previous 12 years.
“This is the worst kind of violence we have experienced in our diocese,” Bishop Nirmol Vincent Gomes of Krishnanagar, whose jurisdiction includes the area where the incident occurred, said.
The Salesian bishop said diocesan priests and nuns filed a police complaint on October 9, urging authorities to arrest those responsible and ensure the safety of “shaken and frightened Catholics living in fear.”
“A complaint has been received and an investigation is on,” a senior police official at the Krishnanagar police directorate said.
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Hindu hardliners attack Catholic church in India (By Michael Gonsalves, UCA News)
