Agra: Unidentified miscreants broke statues and tied a dog chain to Mother Mary’s neck as they vandalized a Catholic church in Agra, a top tourist spot in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Father Eugene Moon Lazarus, parish priest of St. Mary’s Church, discovered the vandalism in the wee hours of Thursday.

In his First Information Report filed at the nearest Rakabganj police station, the parish priest said the anti-theft alarm of his car aroused him and three other priests residing in the presbytery in the early morning. “We saw the side door window mirrors were broken and some people running out from the boundary of church.”

Father Lazarus said they shouted but the miscreants ran away.

The priests also discovered four statues of Mother Mary and the glass case broken. The head of Baby Jesus statue was broken and kept in the hands of Mother Mary’s statue.

The parish priest said they felt highly insulted after seeing a dog chain tied to the neck of Mother Mary’s human size statue. “The attackers have not only broken the images inside the church but they have played with the sentiments of Christian community,” the FIR stated.

The church is situated inside the cantonment area in Agra, the city of Taj Mahal.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India condemned “the sacrilegious acts” and urged state and federal governments to take swift and appropriate action to book the culprits and safeguard places of worship.

“The way the venerable statues were attacked and desecrated to bring maximum shame and disgrace on the venerable icons confirm that these were not just mere acts of vandalism, but well planned dastardly acts, aimed at deeply wounding the religious feelings and creating a feeling of insecurity among the minorities,” said a statement issued by conference spokesperson Monsignor Joseph Chinnayyan.

The sense of security of the minorities and the peace and harmony of all the citizens of India should not be allowed to be tampered upon by such fringe elements or insane minds, the statement added.

The incident occurred when the members of the Agra Regional Bishops’ Council (ARBC) were having their annual meeting nearby. Bishops from the Latin dioceses under Agra metropolitan see and the Oriental Rites in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Rajasthan visited the vandalized church Thursday morning.

Dog chain tied to Marian statue

District and police officials reached the church in the morning to review security arrangements, police said.

Meanwhile, Christian community leaders in Agra have expressed anger over the incident and demanded firm action against the culprits.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings that began on December 1, 2014.

On Tuesday, federal Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told NDTV that most church attack cases had been resolved and none of the attackers were found to be Hindus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing UNESCO in France earlier in the week, said that his government is committed to defending the rights and liberties of all Indians.

In February, addressing a conference organized by Christian groups in Delhi, Mr Modi had said, “My government will not allow any group belonging to majority or minority to incite hatred against others.”