Thiruvananthapuram: The apex body of Catholic bishops in Kerala has condemned destruction of two crosses at a pilgrim center.
“The incident is a challenge to the religious harmony existing in the state,” says a press release from the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC).
The crosses at Kurishumala pilgrim center were allegedly erected in a forestland at Bonnakad near Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram district.
KCBC resident Archbishop Soosa Paikam of Trivandrum, who signed the August 20 press release, says the Forest Department has clarified that they had no role in pulling down the crosses. The government has the responsibility to find out the “evil forces” behind the act, he asserted.
The incident happened on August 18.
The archbishop wanted the state government to order a comprehensive probe to expose those behind the incident.
The Latin rite prelate also maintained that the Church has never encouraged encroachment or given protection to encroachers, dnaindia.com reported.
It was suspected that anti-social elements were behind the incident, he added.
The crosses belonged to the Latin Catholic Church at Bonacaud which comes under the Neyyatinkara diocese.
While the parishioners accused the officials of the Paruthippally forest range of secretly committing the act, the latter had denied any role in it, even though they had plans to remove the 24-feet-tall concrete structures from the spot as they stood on forest land, which was considered as an act of encroachment, The Times of India reported.
However, sources in the department said that the officials at Paruthippally range were under the threat of disciplinary action, including suspension, as the department authorities held them responsible for the construction of concrete structures in the forest land. Hence, they had a definite motive to demolish the crosses.
Besides, the officials on duty at the Bonacaud forest check post on Friday night had said that nobody crossed the check post under their watch. The department has not sought the help of the police either. They are conducting a probe of their own.
“The issue happened in forest land and we can intervene only if they make a request. We are yet to receive any report from their side yet,” said rural SP P Ashok Kumar. He said that at present the police have only registered a case on obstructing vehicular movement when the agitated believers blocked the road at Vithura on Saturday in protest against the demolition of the crosses.
Meanwhile, Bonacaud witnessed more tension on Sunday as believers, led by members of Kerala Christian Youth Movement, where blocked by the forest officials at the check post when they tried to march to the pilgrim centre. The officials later let them proceed to the spot and conduct prayers after the intervention of the tehsildar.
In another development, a delegation from Neyyatinkara diocese met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on August 20 and filed a memorandum. They were accompanied by MLA Sabarinathan.
One of their main grievances was that the crosses must be restored atop the hill. They also requested to allow freedom of movement for the believers to the pilgrim center. The chief minister promised them to take appropriate action after holding talks with the revenue and forest officials. He also promised to bring the perpetrators before the law at the earliest.
The spot, where the crosses stood, had been a pilgrim centre for over 60 years. It was in 1956, the church installed wooden crosses there for the pilgrims to conduct prayers.
Last year, the church replaced the wooden crosses with concrete structures on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary. Since they did not have any permission for the constructions, the forest officials served them a notice to remove the structures.