Indian Cardinal joins chorus in criticizing Report on Church Attacks

(February 24, 2011) The president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India added his voice to the rising tide of critics of a controversial report that cleared Hindu fundamentalists, police and local government leaders of a series of attacks on Christian targets in September 2008. Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai flayed the report on February 23 for failing "to identify persons and organizations" involved in the attacks despite the testimony of dozens of witnesses who identified individual perpetrators who took part in the incidents in southern Karnataka state. The report by a commission, chaired by retired Judge B.K. Somasekhara and appointed by the Karnataka government, had "hurt our religious sentiments by its uncalled-for remarks and exoneration of the fundamentalist forces," the cardinal said. Churches, Christian groups and various church leaders, including Catholic bishops, have led public protests calling upon the Indian government to conduct its own inquiry into the attacks since the commission's report was given to the Indian government January 28. "This is bad for the judiciary and the country," Cardinal Gracias told Catholic News Service from Mumbai, where he received the report the previous day from retired Judge Michael F. Saldana, a Catholic. "When such an important inquiry connives with the culprits instead of identifying and isolating them, it shatters the confidence of the (religious) minorities," Cardinal Gracias said. Justice Michael Saldanha said his investigation has revealed that the police and state administration had supported Hindu militant groups in attacking Christians. “Legal action should be initiated against all responsible for the attacks, including police and government officers,” he demanded. He alleged that the government had supported and covered a hate campaign against the Christians in the state.