The Hindu
Pics: Prajwal Ukkuda
Mangalore, Oct 29: The former MP and patron of Karnataka Missions Network H T Sangliana on Tuesday expressed his displeasure over the commission appointed to inquire into the September attacks on places of worship.
The State Government has constituted a commission headed by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court B K Somasekhara to inquire into the attacks.
Sangliana, a former police official, told presspersons that Christians had demanded that the commission be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a judge of a High Court of another State to ensure fairness and justice. But this had not been done, he said.
According to him, the terms of the commission were not satisfactory. The commission had been asked to concentrate on the causes of the attacks and not the police excesses or the failure of the administration to take preventive measures. “This will be a biased inquiry,” he said.
Sangliana alleged that the district administration had not taken steps to prevent the attacks from happening. Instead, it resorted to use of force on peaceful gatherings in prayer halls.
A 71-year-old nun had been attacked. Prevention of crime was an essential part of policing. Attacking innocent people was a “primitive way” of enforcing law and order, he said.
The police in Bantwal had asked three churches not to hold prayers on the grounds that they were unable to protect them. This had deprived Christians of their constitutional right to worship and was a violation of the United Nation’s Charter on Human Rights, he said.