Church desecrated in Dakshina Kannada

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Miscreants have allegedly removed the holy cross and hoisted a saffron flag in a church near Peradka village in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. A complaint has been filed regarding the incident.

According to sources, the incident took place on Sunday midnight. A group of unidentified men broke open the Peradka Assembly of God church door, placed a photo of Lord Hanuman and lit a lamp. A video of the incident is being shared across social media platforms.

The priest of the church, Fr Jose Verghese, filed a complaint with the jurisdictional police. “The miscreants stole the electric bulbs, irrigation pump and pipes worth Rs 14,000 from the church on May 1. Electricity supply cables were disconnected and the electrical meter box was found missing,” Fr Verghese wrote in his complaint.

A police team has found empty liquor bottles near the church. It is suspected that the perpetrators were under the influence of alcohol. Police said that they are scanning CCTV footage and will soon nab the troublemakers.

Muralikrishna Hasanthadka, a Bajrang Dal leader, has denied the role of his organisation in the violence. He alleged that the land where the church has come up belongs to Enkaje Vishwanath Gowda who had rented it to a member of Christian community 18 years ago. There was some opposition to the land being used as a burial ground.

“It is said that members of the Christian community had illegally constructed a church on the same land. They had dug up the place and created a pit for converting the place into a burial ground,” Hsanthadka alleged.

The Bajrang Dal leader warned of an agitation if the authorities failed to return the property to its owner.

Church refutes allegation
However, in his complaint Fr Varghese has claimed that the church is paying tax to the municipality for the past 30 years. “Kindly take suitable action against the miscreants who breached the church illegally and damaged its property,” he stated in his complaint.

The State home department has officially recorded more than 63 communal incidents between 2019 and 2022 across 10 police stations including Bagalkot, Belagavi, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Gadag, Haveri, Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Vijayapura and Tumakuru. The department data shows that Karnataka has witnessed at least one communal disturbance every 18 days over the past three years.