Delhi High Court seeks government's report on church attacks probe

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Centre on a PIL seeking protection of religious rights of Christians and an SIT probe into the recent attacks on churches in the national capital. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also issued notice to Delhi government and city Police Commissioner seeking their reply on the plea which sought that the “SIT should comprise members of the minority community or the National Minority Commission and alleged that government has failed to prevent such attacks.” [caption id=“attachment_2218576” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of protests against church attacks. AFP[/caption] “Issue notice to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Delhi government, Delhi Police Commissioner,” the court said, adding that all the authorities concerned should file their status report within four weeks. The court has now fixed the matter for further hearing on 1 July. The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Reegan S Bell, which had sought a status report from the Centre, Delhi government and police on action taken by them regarding the attacks and efforts made by them to secure these places against such incidents in future. Central government’s Standing Counsel Anil Soni, appearing for the MHA, opposed the plea, saying it was a “communal petition” and that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to look into the alleged attacks. Advocate Soni also said, “Why should this (petition) be concerned with churches only, all the places of worship should be protected irrespective of the religion. There are attacks on temples, gurdwaras and mosques too. No one wants to say about that. The petitioner should be concerned with all religions. “At least 200 temples were vandalised, 30 gurdwaras and 14 mosques were vandalised along with six churches in the national capital last year. We can’t give preference to one religion. We are for all the religious places,” Soni said. To which the court posed a query to both the governments and police whether they have lodged any FIR in connection with any of the attacks in the national capital. On 24 April, a single judge bench of the high court had turned down the request for SIT probe, saying the same cannot be ordered by this bench and referred it to the division bench headed by the Chief Justice, which adjudicates on public interest litigation. The court had also observed that “whether it’s a church, temple, gurdwara, mosque, we have to make sure all religious places are equally saved.” The plea said that since December, five churches in Delhi have been vandalised but till date no arrests have been made except in one and the cases have not been solved yet. The government has failed to prevent such attacks, it said. The plea also sought directions to the authorities to compensate the places of worship that have been attacked and to ensure they are “restored to their original shape and beauty”. The petition said that though the police dismissed the attacks as stray and totally unconnected incidents, the Delhi Archdiocese has alleged that they were orchestrated. PTI