By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: The Diocese of Faridabad on July 15 lodged a formal complaint with the National Minority Commission against the demolition of its church in south Delhi.
On July 12, some 150 police personnel entered the compound of Little Flower Church in Lado Sarai with bulldozers and razed the church building and vandalized statues and sacred objects with scant respect to religious sentiments of the local Catholics, says a press release from Father Gino K Tom, public relations officer of the diocese.
The Syro-Malabar migrant Catholics of Lado Sarai has been using the church for the past 12 years.
A delegation led by Father Jose Kannukuzhy, the parish priest, the trustees and members of the Church Protection Committee met Nancy Barlow, a member of the National Minority Commission to apprise her of the incident.
They submitted a memorandum demanding immediate the commission’s intervention in the matter and to order legal measures against the culprits.
Barlow assured the delegation to look into the matter.
Later in the afternoon, the minority commission members visited the site to assess the situation. The parish priest and the committee members urged the commission to restore the place of worship to its original shape. The commission said it would prepare a report and send it to the concerned authorities.
Meanwhile the Faridabad diocese has begun a series of protests against what it says is the bureaucratic atrocities and the hidden agenda of the land mafia, who wants to evict the Christian community. The land of the demolished church has been in the possession of the Church from 2006, the press release claimed.
Parishes and Church associations in the diocese have launched protests, observation of black-day, chain prayer services and hunger strikes keeping Covid protocols.
The diocesan youth plan to launch a chain hunger strike at the site of demolition from July 16. Hundreds of members from the other religious communities also visit the site of the demolished church these days, the press release said.