New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has condemned an attack on a church in West Bengal state on Thursday night.

The church is only a few kilometers from Ranaghat where a Catholic nun was gangraped four months ago.

A press release from the conference said the CBCI headquarters in New Delhi received reports that said miscreants had removed tabernacle from St Thomas Church, Taherpur in Nadia district in the eastern Indian state. The attackers then broke open the tabernacle and threw out Consecrated Hosts kept inside it.

Terming the incident as dastardly sacrilegious, the bishops expressed “deep concern” over increasing attacks on churches and missionaries in various parts of India.

“It is distressing to know that today’s vandalism and desecration took place in Taherpur, hardly a few kilometers away from Ranaghat, where an elderly nun was gang raped,” noted the press release signed by CBCI deputy secretary general Monsignor Joseph Chinnayyan.

The bishops appealed to the state and federal governments to take immediate and appropriate measures to curb what they said were “well-orchestrated evil designs to desecrate the places of worship and hurt the religious feelings of the minorities.”

No theft has been reported from the church. Its main door was allegedly broken with a crowbar to gain entry into the church.

Local police are investigating the incident, but there have been no arrests or detentions so far.

The incident triggered outrage among local people.

According to the police, the miscreants broke into the church in the wee hours of night in an apparent robbery attempt. However, nothing went missing in the incident and the police are trying to find out the motive of the vandalism.

“The miscreants broke into the church and vandalized its few parts. Their entry and motive is not yet clear as no church property has been lost in the incident. We will find out how many miscreants broke into the church in the course of investigation,” Ajoy Prasad, deputy superintendent of Nadia district told reporters.

Taherpur is just 25km away from Ranaghat, where the 72-year-old Jesus and Mary nun was gang-raped.

Nadia has witnessed a similar attack in 2012. Police then arrested seven persons for looting a church at Maliapota village.

The parish priest said some 40 armed bandits raided the church.