Times of India, 4 Oct 2008
Delhi church attacked 2 weeks ago, cops mum
Deeksha Chopra & Samreen Hussain,TNN
New Delhi: The fanatical Hindu mobs have struck in the Capital. And the police has kept it under wraps. A good fortnight ago, a mob attacked a han
dful of Christian families at the Peeragarhi Relief Camp and demolished the frontal portion of the Christian prayer hall in the camp.
This camp in west Delhi is barely 15 km from Parliament House. To this day, this group of Christians is holding weekly mass with police protection. The families say they are living in constant fear of local miscreants allegedly owing allegiance to ''some religious organisations'' who accuse them of carrying out ''forced conversions'' and threaten to ''take away'' their daughters unless they ''mended their ways.''
The mob had struck on September 16. Despite repeated attempts, the community has not managed to get a FIR registered for what they call ''vandalism'' and police describe as ''regular land dispute''.
Ezik Malik, the priest-in-charge of the prayer hall says that a day before the actual demolition, he had got a call from an unidentified caller saying that the roof of the hall had collapsed.
''We promptly went to rebuild it when suddenly this mob of 500 reached the place carrying saffron flags and sticks. They started pelting stones that left six people injured. There were anti-Christian slogans and then they demolished part of the hall. Policemen just looked on. On hindsight I realised that they had damaged the roof to create a situation that could later be used as an excuse for unrest.'' He added that despite repeated attempts the local police station refused to lodge a FIR but gave the community protection.
Sister Rani, who was praying inside the hall when the incident happened, says she was attacked by some of the men. ''It's like a never-ending nightmare. There have been no arrests and we are living in constant fear of more attacks.''
The aftershocks of the incident are still being felt with the bi-weekly mass having been replaced by just a once a week prayer. Even then attendance is thin and the threats continue.
Struggling to hold back her tears, a petrified Pyalo Dev said: ''They come everyday since that incident and ask us to leave this area as we do not 'belong' here and we should not be practising Christianity in this area. I am scared about my teenaged daughter. All the women from our community who go out to work are followed. It is a nerve-wracking situation and I do not know how much more of this I can take.''
DCP (west) Sharad Aggarwal denies any religious angle in the unrest. ''It was entirely a land dispute,'' he claimed. ''The Christians were trying to extend the prayer hall beyond the boundary wall which is when locals objected. There was an agitation but everything was under control because we were right there when it happened. There was no demolition and we have given them police protection.''
The MCD, which is the sole body that can carry out demolitions, is not aware of any unauthorised construction here. MCD commissioner K S Mehra said he was unaware of the incident. A MCD spokesman, however, said that the police or anyone else is not authorised to carry out demolitions. ''We carry them out and ask for police protection,'' he said.
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